Alice Goes Back
by AmberEye57
Summary: Trouble in Wonderland drives Alice and Hatter to return to help Jack Heart. R&R.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Trouble in Wonderland

Things were not so good in Wonderland.

Jack Heart, King of Wonderland, gazed out of his chamber window in his newly built castle. His chambers were on the top floor, naturally, but at this point he wasn't sure if that was such a good thing. Being on the top floor made it easier for others to keep tabs on him...and trap him if that was what they wanted to do.

He had known, of course, that becoming King of Wonderland would not immediately fix all of the problems that were in his land. There was so much to fix, since his mother had so royally ruined the country. There were the refugees to think of and pardon, many of whom were still in hiding and didn't know about the change in power, the economy was basically in ruins, and much of the population were little more than addicts. Of course, it wasn't drugs they were addicted to. It was the bottled-up emotions, the "Pearls" that had been sucked out of the Oysters while his mother had been in charge that the vast majority of the citizens of Wonderland craved.

He had made Pearl ownership, trafficking, and use illegal once he had been formally crowned as King, and had tried to ensure that any and all of the Oysters which were left in Wonderland were sent back through the Looking Glass as quickly as possible. Of course, that had been expensive, because their minds had to be wiped of all memories of Wonderland. However, underground tea shops had began popping up everywhere, and they were selling Pearl at outlandish prices. And his people were over-dosing on the stuff. How they were overdosing Jack didn't know; as far as he knew, people had never ODed on Pearl before, and he had no idea why they were now.

Jack had even went through the trouble to break up the Stone of Wonderland into pieces, and fashioned into much smaller rings. Now, you could move through the Looking Glass into the Other world, but you were no longer able to vanish people into Wonderland. It was pre-emptive move to ensure the impossibility of bringing in people and using them as Oysters again. He wore one of the pieces around his right ring finger, and had hidden the other rings.

More worrying, and perhaps more important, at least to Jack, was the fact that there were rebels who wanted to overthrow him. He hadn't been in power for even two full years and already he had enemies. Who he had pissed off he wasn't exactly sure, but he knew he'd made somebody angry. Threats on his life had been made, and his food-taster had turned up very dead just the week before. He had taken a bite of Jack's baked borogove, had muttered something about a bitter taste, and then keeled over backwards. Jack still had not replaced him.

"What's the matter, darling?" he heard the familiar throaty purr of Duchess' voice behind him, and then felt her body heat behind him. She wrapped her arms around his waist, putting her chin on his shoulder.

"Same old, same old, I'm afraid," jack replied, not taking his eyes off the land below him. "Threats on my life, rebels, drugs...you know, another normal day in Wonderland." He pursed his lips. "And not a damned thing I can do about it, it seems." At this he did turn, and studied Duchess carefully.

She was wearing her usual outfit: a gold, strapless belly-top and long, slinky gold skirt, along with very high heels, also gold of course. Her long, platinum blonde hair was teased to a seemingly enormous height, and her eyes were heavily lined with kohl. Bracelets adorned her wrists, and she wore around her neck a thick, gold collar. Her alabaster skin shone in the lamp light of Jack's room.

Duchess stood patiently, not being unaccustomed to people regarding her for long periods of time, and was very still. The way she stood so still made her look like a statue, a perfect, beautiful statue carved from some yet-undiscovered stone.

Jack had, obviously, considered her as the traitor, but after much consideration, and some spying on his part performed by one of his trusted Spades, he had cleared her name off his list of suspects. Besides, she had shown him her loyalty when she had freed him from his mother's clutches, and had proven herself as a true friend, time and again during his time rebuilding Wonderland.

He nodded, to show her that he had finished looking at her, and she went from being still to being in motion so fluidly it was surprising. She stepped past him, so she herself could look out the window. Her large eyes took in the scenery below them, rolling hills of green, with small villages scattered throughout the countryside. In the distance was Wonder City, with its very tall buildings above the very large river, which snaked its way to the sea, known as the Sea of Tears.

"Not a thing?" Duchess finally spoke.

"I'm afraid not," he replied, "that's the thing about being in power, there are always those who will go against you." He sighed, closing his eyes, very tired. He put out a hand to brace himself against the wall. "Of course, usually they wait until you've finished building and renovating your new castle before making tries on your life."

"Have you eaten anything today?" Duchess asked him worriedly, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Mmmm....I don't remember," Jack replied. "I don't think so." He opened his eyes to Duchess' retreating figure. She strode into his antechamber and got the attention of a Suit.

"The King has not yet eaten today. Are you an imbecile? Would you like him to die of starvation on your watch?" she berated him. The poor Suit shook his head, clearly embarrassed and maybe a little bit frightened. Duchess could be scary when she wanted to be. "Well, see to it that he gets a plate of breakfast foods." The Suit hurried away. She turned back towards him. "There now, you'll have some food in less than two shakes of a borogove's-" she was cut off by a knock at the door.

"Food for the King!" a voice called out.

"Tail."

"You didn't have to do that, Duchess," Jack said to her.

"Of course I did," she replied. "You are my King, and I can't have you dying of starvation before you turn thirty." She turned to the door. "Come in."

Another Suit walked in the door, and Jack recognized him as the 3 of Diamonds. He was carrying a tray laden with fruits, toast and waffles. He set it down on table near the wall.

"Was this food tested?" Duchess asked.

"Yes milady."

"When was it tested?"

"In the kitchens, milady."

"Are you an idiot?" Duchess asked.

"Umm... no milady."

"Are you trying to make a threat to the King's life?"

"No, milady!" 3 exclaimed, starting to look panicked.

"But you thought it fit to bring the King a tray of food which has traveled all the way from the kitchens to his chambers, making it entirely possible that someone slip something in the food on the way here?" Duchess asked, starting to glower at the poor Suit.

"It's not poisoned, milady!"

"Says you, a Suit who used to work for the Queen," Duchess retorted. She took a menacing step towards him. "Get a food taster up here now."

"Duchess, it's fine." Jack cut in, grabbing her by the elbow. He turned to look at 3. "Was it tested?" he asked.

"Yes, milord," 3 said, bowing slightly.

"Well, send for a taster because I want it tested again," Duchess said to him. 3 nodded and turned to dash out of the room.

"Duchess, I don't really think it's necessary, if the food's already been tested," Jack said to her.

"Well, I say it is necessary, who knows if that Suit was telling the truth?" Duchess replied. They stood in relative silence for a moment. "Jack," she began, "I don't know what I'd do if something were to happen to you...I truly do... care for you."

"And I you, darling. You know that."

A moment later the door opened. A very large man walked in, who was definitely not a Suit, nor was he a food taster. Jack felt fear in the pit of his stomach. The man was easily 7 feet tall, muscular, and barrel-chested. His arms were very easily the size of Jack's legs, and his thighs reminded him of tree-trunks. He was very clearly an assassin; he was even dressed all in black. He was hairless, with startling green eyes. Jack wondered idly how he had gotten in the castle without an alarm being raised.

"Who are you?" Duchess asked, but Jack knew the answer already.

The large man walked up to them, shaking his head. "You just couldn't eat the food, could you? You would have died quickly you know, with very little pain. But now I have to take charge. I can still do it quick, if you do something for me." He had a deep, gravelly voice which was not altogether unpleasant.

"How dare you!" Duchess shrieked at him. She dashed past him, opening her mouth to call for the Suits, but the large man grabbed her by the arm and very casually threw her against the wall, effectively knocking her unconscious.

"Pity about the girl, really," the man continued. "But I won't have to hurt you if you tell me about the rings. A quick snap of the neck, that I can promise you."

"The rings?" Jack asked, already knowing what rings he referred to.

"You know, the Stone of Wonderland. What have you done with the pieces?"

Jack chuckled softly. "I'm afraid that's something I cannot divulge to you," he replied. "You'll just have to kill me."

The man in black tsked, as if this news was very distressing. "Well, I will kill you, but now that won't be for awhile. And by the time I'm done, you'll have wished you'd told me."

He struck so quickly Jack didn't even see it coming, nor did he see anything after. His world went black.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: In the Real World

Alice's alarm jarred her awake. She rolled over and hit the button, wishing she could just roll over and go back to sleep, but knew she had to get up. It was 5:00 in the morning, and she had to go for a run, shower, get ready for work, and actually get to work before 7:30. So she rolled out of bed, and pulled on her jogging suit and running shoes. She was out the door and running before 5:10.

She had started running after coming back from Wonderland. She had done so much running while she was there that it just seemed natural for her to do some running during her day. But she was beginning to wonder why she continued running. Was she running to something, or from something?

She shook her head to clear her mind and just let the wind rush past her, enjoying the feeling it gave her. She pumped her arms and legs harder, luxuriating in the familiar rhythm of her feet pounding the pavement. The rest of her run went by quickly, and soon she found herself back in her home. Well, her new home.

She had moved out from living with her mother, saying that now she was in her twenties it was time for her to move out and live on her own. And she did live on her own. Hatter – _David_, she corrected herself in her own head – didn't live with her. She needed her space and somehow he seemed to realize that, and so he rented his own apartment across town. He came over often, or she went over to his place, and she had even spent the night with him a few times, always at his place though.

Now, Alice lived in a one bedroom apartment, which she paid way too much for, but she loved it, because it was hers. It was smallish, but she preferred to think of it as cozy. The whole place was 300 square feet, with most of the space allotted for the living room. Her bedroom was the next biggest room, and there was a small hallway which led to a kitchenette and bathroom. Her land lord had told her she was free to paint it, and pets were allowed, which was good. Once she knew she could have pets, she had gone to the SPCA and saved a kitten, whose mother had apparently been abandoned when the owners had learned she was pregnant.

She named her cat Dinah, of course, and Dinah was a cute, loving, and affectionate little calico. She seemed to like to cuddle with Alice, and would greet her when she walked in the door, and jump into her lap if Alice was sitting down. She could curl up at the foot of Alice's bed at night, and seemed to know intuitively when Alice did and did not want to be cuddled. She was smart as a whip, and training her to use the litter box had been strangely easy. Alice found that she enjoyed the kitten's company immensely.

When she walked in the door Dinah as usual met her at the door and purred, rubbing herself against Alice's legs. Alice bent down to give her a quick pat, and then continued into the apartment, stripping her clothes off as she went. She jumped in the shower, shampooed and conditioned her hair, washed her skin, rinsed and got out. Her shower took her less than ten minutes. She grabbed a towel and wrapped it around herself, then walked through her apartment and into her bedroom to get dressed.

This task didn't take her long to do either. She still had her job as a judo sensei, teaching people who ranged from small children to adults the art of Judo from 7:30 in the morning to 2:30 in the afternoon and even taught some evening classes. Her days usually went by pretty fast, for which she was grateful.

She looked at the clock and realized she was running early, and decided she had time to call her mother to see how she was doing. Her mother had been sick for the past four or five days, and Alice liked to check up on her. So she picked up the phone and dialled the number. Her mom picked up on the third ring.

"Hello?" her mother, Carol, answered the phone, obviously groggy.

"Mom, it's me, hi."

"Oh, how are you, sweetie?" Carol's voice picked up a bit when she realized it was her only daughter.

"I'm fine mom, just calling to check in. How are you feeling?"

"Oh, fine, fine," her mother answered, but then coughed.

"Still have that cough?" Alice asked her. "Are you going to call the doctor?"

"Oh, no, no sweetie. It's nothing serious. A cough I picked up from work. It'll clear up in another day or so." Carol waved it off.

"Okay, well if it doesn't clear up by then, call Dr. Harris, okay?" Alice asked.

"Yes, dear."

"Okay, good." Alice checked her watch. "Well, mom, I have to run so I'm not late for work, but I'll talk to you again tomorrow or the next day."

"Okay, sweetie. You know, you don't have to keep tabs on your mother; that's supposed to be my job."

"I know, mom," Alice answered.

Carol chuckled, and coughed again. Before Alice could say anything about it though, Carol spoke. "Well, honey, I love you, and I'll talk to you soon. Have a good day at work. Say hello to David for me, when you see him."

"Okay mom. Love you too. Bye." Alice hung up the phone, feeling slightly worried about her mother. She didn't usually get sick, or stay sick for long, and it worried Alice that her mother might have caught something contagious. She shook the thought off and grabbed her keys from the bowl that she kept on the stand next to the door. "Bye Dinah," she called out behind her. "See you when I get home."

Alice's day went by quickly, as it usually did. She enjoyed her work, which made the days go by a lot quicker, which suited her just fine. Her days never dragged on and her students were usually co-operative and attentive, even the younger ones. All in all, Alice was pretty pleased with her life.

Her love life wasn't too shabby either. Of course, she and Hatter hadn't done the deed yet; they were taking it slow; which Alice liked, even if it did drive her a bit crazy now and again. Besides, they'd only been "together" for a couple weeks or so. Alice wondered idly how much time had passed in Wonderland. She would have to ask Hatter.

To her delight, Hatter was waiting for her when she got home. He was standing outside her apartment building, looking very...delicious. His brown hair was flipped up in the crazy, wild way that Alice loved, and he wore a pair of washed out jeans (which hugged his butt just right, a fact that was not lost on Alice), and a brown long-sleeved over-shirt, which he left unbuttoned over a white tank. She stood back for a moment to take him in, and waited for him to see her.

It didn't take long for him to notice her; he seemed to have a knack for knowing if she was around. It was as if he was tuned into her, and could find her as easy as pie in a crowded room. He grinned and winked at her, making her stomach flip-flop. She walked up to him, struggling to walk in a slow and steady gait. When she was finally next to him he grabbed her and kissed her deeply, unmindful of anyone who might be in the vicinity.

"How are you?" he asked her in that lilting accent she so adored after he released her.

"I'm fine," she replied, walking up her steps and unlocking the door to her building. They walked up to her apartment, which was on the second floor. When they walked in, Dinah was already at the door, purring and wrapping herself around both of their legs.

"Hello then, who's this?" Hatter asked, bending down to pick up the kitten, who purred and nudged his chin with her head before settling in his arms quite comfortably.

"That's Dinah, my new cat," Alice answered, slipping off her shoes and putting her jacket on the coat rack.

"Oh yes? Well, she's a sweet thing, isn't she," Hatter replied, talking more to Dinah than to Alice herself. He slipped off his own shoes and followed Alice into the living room, where they sat down on the couch together. Hatter let Dinah go, and she jumped off the couch and went in search for something else to do; allowing Alice to sink into Hatter's embrace. "Hmm, this feels good," he murmured softly to himself, reminding Alice of Wonderland.

"Hmm, I should go shower," she mumbled into his chest, but didn't move.

"Oh? Should you?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm still in my work clothes," she said.

"Well then, I suppose you should go shower, and make yourself presentable," Hatter teased, tickling her back. Alice arched into his fingers, because it felt so good. "I'll even take you out to eat after, if you like," Hatter whispered into her ear.

"Hmm, I would like." Alice unfolded herself from the couch and went for her second shower of the day. She was quick, and was in and out in less than ten minutes, wrapped a towel around herself, and walked out of the bathroom. She felt Hatter's eyes on her as she walked from the bathroom to her room, and so she slowed down her pace a bit, taking her time getting to her room. Feeling slightly mischievous, she didn't close her door all the way, just pushing it halfway closed with her foot, and as if she didn't notice she opened her closet and perused her clothes for something to wear.

As she was going through her closet, she felt, rather than heard, Hatter behind her. She turned around, to be caught up in his arms. He pulled her to him and leaned down to kiss her.

His kiss was, as usual, romantic and sweet, but somewhere in the kiss she tasted a hint of want and need. He didn't break the kiss when she expected him to, but instead deepened the kiss and brought it into a newer territory, turning it into something a bit more passionate and wild. After a few more minutes of kissing her, he slowly backed off, but kept his hands on her arms, regarding her with his deep brown eyes.

"What was that for?" Alice asked.

"Do I need a reason to want to kiss a pretty girl who's all wet and covered in only a towel?" Jack replied, using words he'd used on her before. "I'll give you a hint, the answer is in the question." He brushed his lips against hers again. "Stop teasing me, Alice, and get dressed, else we'll never get out of here." He let go of her and walked slowly out of the bedroom, turning to look at her with a heated gaze before shutting the door.

Alice looked after him, wondering what would happen if she were to just open the door, walk over in front of Hatter, and drop the towel. She shook her head to clear it and got dressed. She picked out a pair of dark jeans and a white tank top, over which she put a low-cut green blouse, which brought out her eyes. She put on a bit of make-up; just enough to bring out her eyes even more, and make her lips look "plumper and more kissable", which was what it had said on the box of the tube of lipstick she was using. She even took a few minutes to blow dry her hair.

She walked out of her bedroom, loving the way Hatter's eyes tracked her until she stood in front of him. "Shall we go eat?" she asked him, leaning down to press a kiss to his lips.

"Mmmm...yes," Hatter replied, gracefully getting up from his seated position. He helped her put on a coat and took her arm, "Let's go," he said.

They decided, because it was a nice afternoon, that they would walk to the little restaurant that they both liked. When they got there, the waitress sat them in their usual booth, and they ordered their usual meals. They ate while chattering about their days.

"Hatter, I was wondering," Alice began.

"Yes?"

"How much time has passed in Wonderland since we've been gone?"

"Well, that really depends, doesn't it?" Hatter replied. "When you came to Wonderland before, how long were you gone from this world?"

"Well, mom said I was gone for about an hour, and I was in Wonderland for about two days."

"And we've been here for two weeks. That means," Hatter paused, doing a bit of mental math in his head, "that 672 days have passed in Wonderland since we've been gone. Basically, two years have passed."

"Two years?" Alice exclaimed. "That's a long time."

"Not really, time goes fast in Wonderland, and people live for a long time," Hatter said, taking a sip of his drink. "Dessert, do y'think?" he asked, waving to their server.

"No, I'm pretty full," Alice answered, still slightly in shock as to how much time had passed.

They paid their bill and left, arm in arm. While they walked, Alice wondered if Hatter missed his home, if he wished to return to the strange world that was Wonderland. She rather hoped he didn't. She liked him – a lot. She liked him more than she had liked Jack, who was one of the first men she'd ever had real feelings for. She glanced up at Hatter, at his beloved face, at the man who'd risked his own life, time and again, to help her. The man who had left his home, left everything at the drop of his favourite hat to come chasing after her again. The man who she was pretty sure she was falling in love with.

"You're quiet," Hatter commented, glancing down at her. "What are you thinking about?"

"Oh, nothing," Alice said with a smile. "Just...stuff."

"Important stuff?" Hatter asked, his own smile flickering around the edges of his mouth.

"Maybe," Alice said, turning her head to look around at their surroundings, so she wouldn't blurt out what she was thinking, for fear of it. Sure, Hatter had followed her into her world to be with her, so clearly he was serious about her, but Alice knew men, or rather, she knew herself. She knew that the mention of the L-word could, and had, sent her scurrying many times before. Her commitment issues hadn't fully disappeared, which she was definitely cognizant of. She didn't want to ruin what she and Hatter had by doing something stupid like professing her love for him but then taking it back. So she had decided she would wait to tell him, until she knew for sure. Besides, he hadn't told her he loved her yet, so clearly it wasn't that big of a deal.

"Maybe important stuff?" Hatter echoed her, and even though she wasn't looking, she could hear the smile in his voice. Which made her smile, too. She turned to look at him, and was about to reply when she noticed his smile disappear.

"Hatter?" she said, concerned. "What is it?" she turned back around to see where he had been looking, and she saw a figure who she had very much hoped never to see again.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: We Need Your Help

Hatter couldn't believe his eyes. Duchess was standing a short distance away, looking very out of place and conspicuous in this world. She had changed her clothes from that gold outfit she always wore, but her new wardrobe choice was barely a step above. Her outfit was skimpy, since all of her outfits were skimpy, and a strange effervescent colour. He rather thought she resembled an exotic dancer.

A closer look at her revealed that she was very nervous, and her hair and make-up weren't in the impeccable order they usually were. It was then that he noticed that she had a very large bruise covering the left side of her face.

"What is she doing here?" Alice asked, and Hatter shrugged.

"I'm not sure, but I have a feeling she's got bad news for us." They walked up to her, and she smiled at them, clearly trembling.

"Something's happened," she said, biting her bottom lip and worrying it with her teeth.

"Duchess, what are you doing here?" Alice asked, "And what _happened_ to you?"

"Something bad happened." Duchess repeated herself.

"Okay, we got that part," Hatter said, "Can you give us the details?" But Duchess didn't answer him, just continued to tremble and look around her, obviously very afraid.

"Duchess, my home is just over there," Alice pointed. "Let us take you there, and you can tell us what happened, when we're not out in broad daylight." Alice shrugged off her coat and draped it over Duchess' shoulders, then she and Hatter each took her by an arm and ushered her down the street and up into Alice's apartment building. Duchess didn't say anything, just continued to look around fearfully. Once she was inside and Alice had locked the door she relaxed visibly.

"Okay, Duchess, now tell us what happened," Hatter said, seating her on the couch. Dinah jumped up on the couch and into Duchess' lap, purring at her. It seemed to calm her down slightly, and she petted Dinah in silence for a few minutes. Hatter had expected her to speak to him, but she turned toward Alice and spoke.

"Jack's been taken."

Alice and Hatter both looked at her, astounded. "Taken?" Alice asked. "Where? By who?"

Duchess shook her head. "I don't know where, and I don't know who's behind it. But I was there when he was taken. A very large man came, and he threw me against a wall, which is how I got this," she said, waving a hand in front of her face, "and then he took Jack. When I came to, there was a note," she pulled a piece of paper out of a pocket that Hatter hadn't known existed on her outfit, and handed it to Alice.

Alice took the paper, unfolded it and read it out loud. "It says: 'The new King of Hearts is an imposter. I have taken him. I want the Stone of Wonderland, in its entirety. I will send more instructions to whomever reads this first. You are now responsible for your King's life.'" Alice looked up at Duchess in horror, "when did this happen?" she asked.

"Yesterday afternoon."

"Why?"

"For a while now, there have been threats made against Jack's life, rebels want to overthrow him and take over Wonderland. But they need the Stone of Wonderland to do it, and he split up the Stone into pieces and hid them. Clearly they took him to try to get the information out of him, but Jack won't tell them where it is."

"And, perhaps a more important question," Hatter put in, "why are you here, showing this to us?"

"I'm here because I need Alice's help to get the Stone of Wonderland back together," Duchess answered, staring intently at Alice's face.

"Alice's help? Why do you need Alice?" Hatter asked, very confused.

"Because Jack loves her," Duchess answered, not without sadness in her tone. "He asked her to be his Queen you know."

"But I said no," Alice said softly.

"That doesn't matter," Duchess retorted. "You still hold some power over him," she put her head in her hands. "He dreams about you, sometimes. In his sleep he calls out your name. 'Alice', he says, 'Alice, come back to me'."

Hatter felt an odd sense of anger well up inside his chest. "I still don't see how any of this is relevant," he muttered. "How is Alice going to find the Stone of Wonderland?

Duchess raised her head out of her hands. "Because Alice knows where the pieces are."

"What?" Hatter exclaimed. "How in the bloody blue blazes would she know that?"

"Because she's the one who hid them." At this statement, Hatter whirled around to look at Alice, who had gotten up and started pacing around the living room. When she felt his gaze on her she looked up at him, and then looked down at her feet. "Not long after you left Wonderland," she said to Hatter, "Jack felt it was prudent to break the Stone apart, so it couldn't power the Looking Glass enough to kidnap Oysters, but just enough so that one piece could allow the passage of two people through it at any given time. He kept one of the pieces on a ring around his finger, and gave me one, hidden in a necklace." Duchess touched the gold necklace at her throat. "He may even have a piece hidden in Wonderland someplace, but I know that he gave a piece to Alice to hide. I know, because I followed him into this world when he came through the Looking Glass and watched him give it to her."

The more Duchess spoke, the more Hatter wished for Alice to say something, to deny what was being said. But she didn't speak up, not once. She just continued to pace. Hatter felt speechless. It was true; she had hidden a piece of the Stone of Wonderland...and she hadn't told him.

"Alice, I know you're not terribly fond of me," Duchess spoke again, "but I need your help. Wonderland needs your help. The rebels want to put the Stone back together to start bringing in Oysters again, and draining them. And they're probably going to kill Jack. Will you help me, Alice? Please?" she implored Alice, her eyes begging.

Alice finally stopped pacing. Hatter leaned up against the wall, his arms crossed, waiting for her response, already knowing what she would do. Alice wasn't the kind of woman to let others suffer, especially if she thought she could help. And this was exactly the kind of circumstance in which Alice would go in, banners flying and doing her super-Judo moves on anyone who stood in her way.

"Of course I'll help. Let me just take care of a few things and we can leave within the hour." Alice was suddenly in motion, running into her bedroom and Hatter heard her rummaging around for a few minutes until she came out. Hatter looked in her hand but didn't see a ring, looked around her neck but there was no necklace.

"Where's the piece from the Stone?" he found himself asking, without really meaning to.

Alice stopped in mid-stride, and glanced at Duchess meaningfully before glancing at him. "I think it's better if no one other than me knows where it is, just in case." While she spoke, she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, and Hatter noticed a twinkle at the top of her ear. What a clever girl his Alice was.

"Yes, that's probably best," he found himself saying. He watched as Alice laced on a pair of sneakers and pulled a jacket on.

"Okay, I'm ready," Alice finally said. "Where's the mirror?"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Falling Through the Looking Glass

Alice and Hatter stood in front of the Looking Glass, waiting, though for what Alice was unsure of. On the way over Hatter had requested they stop at his place, so he could change and grab his favourite hat. "As long as I'm going back, I may as well be as I was," he'd commented when Alice had looked at him questioningly after he'd changed back into what she referred to in her head as his Wonderland outfit. She wasn't sure if she was happy to see him in it (it did make him look rather scrumptious, but then again, so did everything he wore; at least it did to her), or upset that he was wearing it.

Now they stood in front of the Looking Glass, waiting. They weren't afraid to go through, not really, but they could both feel the need to say something before they went. Duchess was standing off to the side, seeming to realize they needed a moment.

"Hatter," Alice started, "I'm sorry if you're upset that I never told you about this," she touched her ear briefly to indicate she was talking about the piece of the Stone. "But I promised Jack I wouldn't tell anyone, and he asked that I not even tell you."

"What, didn't you trust me?" Hatter asked bitterly.

"Of course I trust you," Alice replied. "I would have told you, except that I was asked not to. I would tell you all of my secrets, Hatter, but this was not my secret to tell you. I never thought that hiding this thing would mean me...us having to go back. I just took it as a favour to Jack."

"Because you owed him anything?" Hatter bit out. "After you risked your neck to go save him, basically won him the throne, saved Wonderland from the Queen...yeah, you definitely owed him a favour."

"It's not that I owed him anything. I just did it because I felt like it was the right thing to do," Alice explained. "Hatter, I just wanted to explain it to you." She paused before going on, unsure how to phrase what she wanted to say next. "I hope...you can forgive me...and not...leave." She ducked her head.

Hatter looked down at her, surprised. He moved so he was in front of her, and placed a finger under her chin, lifting her head up. "Alice, I'm just brassed off. I'm not about to leave the girl I've gone gallivanting after all through Wonderland and beyond because I'm ticked." He placed a hand behind her neck and pulled her up, leaning down to kiss her.

Alice felt the usual butterflies and flip-flopping of her stomach she was beginning to associate with Hatter's kisses, not that she was ever getting used to it. She wished they could deepen the kiss and go on forever, that there was no crisis in Wonderland she'd promised to help with waiting for her beyond the Looking Glass. At this moment, she wanted nothing more than to drag Hatter back to her place, strip off both of their clothes, and jump his bones until they were both satiated. She actually considered the idea for a moment, but Duchess cleared her throat loudly, and Alice broke off the kiss regretfully.

"Okay," she said, placing her hand in Hatter's. "Let's do this."

Duchess spoke up. "I'll go first. The Looking Glass will let you pass through it because you have a piece of the Stone, just make sure you go through it at the same time, else one of you could get stuck in between worlds." And with no more ado, she walked through the giant gilded mirror in front of them, as if it was the most normal thing in the world. And for her, it probably was.

Hatter squeezed her hand as they approached the mirror. They stood with their noses nearly pressed against the glass. "What does that mean?" Alice spoke, "to be stuck in between worlds?"

"You remember travelling through the Looking Glass?" Hatter asked.

"Yes."

"Well, you'd be stuck doing that forever...or until your heart gives out from too much stress."

"Thanks, Hatter. That was extremely helpful," Alice responded sarcastically.

"Don't worry, Alice. If I didn't think it was safe..."

"You wouldn't let me do it," she finished the phrase he had used on her once before. "Okay."

"Ready? On my count then; one, two, three!" On three, Hatter pulled them both through the Glass.

Travelling between worlds was just as unpleasant as Alice had remembered. It felt like she was falling face first off a very high surface. She felt her hair fly around her face, and she felt as if she couldn't breathe. She panicked, feeling the same fear she felt when she was up high, and started flailing her arms wildly. Suddenly, she felt Hatter next to her, and he grabbed her by the arms, holding her still and pulling her to his chest. Suddenly, they were on the ground. Or, rather, Hatter was lying on the ground, and she was lying on Hatter. She didn't move for a moment, waiting for her heart to stop beating like it was going to beat right out of her chest.

After a moment she stood up, then leaned down and helped Hatter up. She looked around. They were on the same patch of grass in the very long hallway with ankle deep water. Wires hung down from the ceiling and into the water. Doors lined each side of the hallway, and all were shut. Duchess was standing at the end of the hallway, tapping her foot impatiently.

"You're finally here," she said, annoyed.

"We came through right behind you," Hatter retorted, taking Alice's hand and walking down the hallway towards her. Once they were all out of the hallway and standing outside Alice felt déjà vu come over her. The city was still as strange as it had been the last time she was here, what with all of the buildings being several hundred feet in the air. Alice felt her heart squeeze uncomfortably in her chest, realising they were up very high with no way down but to fall. Hatter seemed to notice her discomfort, and squeezed her hand reassuringly.

"Right," he addressed Duchess, "where to?"

"Jack's new castle, to begin with. Maybe his captors will send me another note, with their demands," Duchess answered, briskly walking down the grassy path. Hatter and Alice followed.

Luckily, they didn't have to walk the entire way, as Duchess had thought ahead and left transportation for them. Alice looked warily at the Pink Flamingos which were idling on the ledge. She hated them.

"Want to ride with me?" Hatter whispered in her ear, placing a kiss on her neck.

"I would very much like to ride with you," Alice agreed readily. She let Hatter climb on first then clambered on behind him, scooting up as far as she could and wrapping her arms around his waist. She watched as Hatter pressed the big red button on the Flamingo's head, but closed her eyes when she felt them start forward. She kept her eyes closed for most of the ride over, peeking out under her eyelashes every once in a while to ensure they weren't crashing to their deaths. Finally they landed, and Alice jumped off the cursed thing as if it had burned her.

She looked around, taking in her surroundings, and then stopped. And stared.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: A Very Large Castle

"Wow," Alice said. "That's...big." She craned her neck to fully take in the size and grandeur of Jack's castle in front of them. It was huge, made of marbled stone, and had to be 50 storeys high. There was a turret on each corner of the castle, as well as every 50 feet or so along the wall. A huge door, which looked like it was made of glass, graced the front of the castle. Hatter guessed the glass was reinforced somehow so it wouldn't just shatter if someone attacked. A moat surrounded the castle, of course, and the water in it was crystal clear. A marbled bridge that went up to the front door looked to be the only way to get in or out of the castle.

Hatter whistled. "Think maybe he's overcompensating for something?" he asked casually, putting his hands in his pockets.

"He doesn't have anything he needs to compensate for," the words Alice spoke were murmured, barely spoken aloud, but Hatter heard them nonetheless. He tensed and his jaw clamped shut with an audible click of his teeth. His hands curled into fists. "Hatter, I'm sorry, I didn't mean-" she began to say.

"Didn't mean to imply that you've already seen and tested what Heart has to offer?" Hatter couldn't help the bitter tone that seeped into his voice, even though he didn't want to be _that_ guy. He didn't want to be the guy who was jealous of ex-boyfriends, who got angry, hot-headed and spiteful at the mere mention of other men, past or present, in Alice's life, but he couldn't seem to help himself. His feelings for Alice were so deep that sometimes he was driven to distraction by her. She was all he saw, all he felt, all he thought about. He wanted very badly to find Jack, if only to smash his pretty little face in with his strong right hook.

"Hatter," Alice's hand was on his arm, restraining him. "My former relationship with Jack is very much in the category of none of your business. And it doesn't matter in any case, I'm with you, not him," her tone was one that brooked no argument. Her tone softened, and she squeezed his arm, "I chose you, not him. And, given the choice, I'd make the same decision."

The words floated around in his head, clearing the anger out. He smiled ruefully. "This is a fact I pride myself in every day," he said, "the fact that you chose me."

"If you're both quite finished," Duchess interrupted, "I would very much like to go inside and see if there have been any more notes from Jack's kidnappers." With that she strode towards the castle.

They gained entry easily; apparently Duchess was a familiar figure around the castle. As they walked through the castle grounds Hatter scanned the area thoroughly, taking in the sights and people who bustled about busily. "Why is no one worried?" he whispered into Alice's ear. "The people should be in panic mode, forming search parties and the like. Not going around in their day to day business."

"Nobody knows," Duchess said over her shoulder. "To ensure that people don't panic, we've started using a double to act as Jack, to keep the people's daily lives running. It wasn't that long ago that Jack took over from his mother, and the period that follows is always tremendously difficult and stressful when there's a change in rulers. We want to try to avoid that." Duchess led them through a very large foyer, decked out in red, black and white; and past many people waiting there, probably waiting for an audience with their missing King. She led them to a set of elevators, which she opened with a key card and use of a password. Once inside the elevator, she pressed the button for the top floor and they rushed up, much more quickly than in a usual elevator. In seconds they were on the top floor, and in Jack's personal chambers.

Jack's bedroom was large, painted a deep, dark red. A leather couch and chair were placed in front of a stone fireplace, and on the other side of the room was a King-sized bed with a mahogany bed frame, with a pristine white comforter and red pillows. One wall was covered entirely in windows which overlooked the countryside. A writing desk was beside the bed, with an inkwell and various papers scattered on it. It was clear the desk had been rifled through, and that the room had been searched. Pictures had been taken off the walls and left on the floor, the desk's drawers were left open, and Jack's closet doors were ajar, showing his clothes had been searched. Hatter wondered what clues they would be able to find, or if they would even be able to find the last piece of the Stone, since clearly Jack's quarters had been searched already.

It was then Hatter realized that they were not alone in the room. "Bugger," he muttered under his breath.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Run

She hadn't seen them at first, because they had been standing quite still, and their clothes were the same dark red as Jack's walls. But once they moved, it was as if the walls came alive. Alice did a quick head count and realized there were eight of them. Hatter stepped protectively in front of her, and they backed up as a group as their ambushers stepped towards them. One of them stepped ahead of the rest and spoke.

"We are here for the final two pieces of the Stone on behalf of our Master," his voice was chilling and Alice shuddered as a reflex. He had a pair of beady, piercing eyes and a hooked nose. His lips were thin and hard, as were the planes of his face. He wasn't very tall, but to Alice it was clear that he was a fighter; most likely fast. "My name is Eagle, and you shall give me what we are here for." Alice thought that Eagle was rather an apropos name for him.

"Yeah, well, we're here for the King," Hatter spoke up. Alice watched him limber up, getting ready for a fight. He shook his right hand, and then curled it into a fist. "I don't believe we'll just hand over something as precious as the Stone pieces to you."

"And I don't believe you have much of a choice in the matter, Hatter," Eagle spoke again, and bared his teeth in a cruel smile. He held out a hand. "Go on, give them to me."

"I'm not giving you anything," Alice snapped at him. "You can go tell your Master that if he wants to deal with us, he can come and get it himself."

"I was rather hoping you would say that," he said, grinning. He held up a hand, palm up with his fingers crooked. "These are my Red Knights. You are outnumbered, four to one. Last chance."

"Alice," Hatter warned, speaking quietly. "Do something for me."

"What?" she questioned.

"Run."

She snorted softly. "Duchess," she spoke out of the corner of her mouth, "on my signal I want you to turn around and I want you to run. Get to the Flamingo and get out of here, we'll meet later." She paused, waiting for the attack. When she saw the men in red step forward again she put her weight on the balls of her feet, getting ready. When the first one came running, she yelled for Duchess to run, and then stepped up so she was beside Hatter, her arms loose at her sides, bouncing a little on her feet.

She heard Hatter moan beside her and cast him a glance. He was obviously aggravated that she hadn't run like he'd asked her to, but that was too bad. Suddenly, she found herself set upon by a couple of Knights who benefited from her lack of concentration. They each got in a good punch, one in the face and one in the gut, before she got focused. She disbanded them pretty easily, using her momentum to run forward to attack another two of the men. They seemed to be more adept at fighting, and they teamed up on her, circling her and attacking when she was concentrated on the other. One of them countered one of her powerful kicks and she landed on the ground, hard, letting out a yelp of pain. They closed in on her menacingly, and one started kicking her. She curled into a ball defensively, covering her face.

Hatter noticed her plight and knocked out the guy he was fighting, and then hurried over, to tap one on the shoulder. When he turned around Hatter smiled at him, twirling his hat on one of his fingers on his right hand, before throwing it up in the air. The Knight stupidly watched it go up, and Hatter punched him, hard. Alice used the time to jump to her feet, and dispatch the last one. She whirled around when she heard Eagle's chuckle.

"Next time I shall have to remember to bring more men," he said. "Oh, wait, I did." He snapped his fingers and ten more men stepped out from hiding. "Now, Alice is it?" he asked.

Alice thrust her chin up. "It is."

"Now, my dear Alice, you have a couple of choices. You can either hand over the final two pieces of the Stone, or I can take them from you, forcibly if need be. Your decision."

Alice cast a glance over her shoulder at Hatter and towards the door and was thankful to see that no one had surrounded them. "Well, Eagle, you seem to have forgotten one last option," she said, turning her head back toward him.

"And what is that?" he asked.

Alice smiled. "We run." With that she whirled around, grabbing Hatter's outstretched hand, and together they nearly flew out of the room. They were almost at the elevator when Alice remembered they needed a key card and password to use it, and she yanked on Hatter's arm, turning them in another direction. She was sure there would be stairs somewhere in the castle.

They ran down the hallway, taking turns wherever they could in the hopes that they could lose their pursuers somewhere. Finally, after running in what seemed like circles, they found a door that led to stairs. Hatter pulled it open and they ran into the stairwell. Alice ran down the stairs, skipping two and sometimes three steps at a time. They suddenly reached a landing, and Alice lost her footing on a step and fell down the stairs, crashing into a wall. She felt pain flare up in her shoulder, and grimaced. Hatter was there in a second, grabbing her under her arms and lifting her up. They continued down the stairs, and Alice forced herself to move faster when she heard the door above them open and slam shut, and footsteps on the stairs in hot pursuit. They went down another couple of levels, and at the next landing Hatter stopped her, opening the door on the level they were on and ushering her through it. He closed it behind them softly, and they ducked when they saw their pursuers come down the stairs.

She held her breath, waiting. She exhaled when she heard their footsteps run past the door and continue down the stairs. She was about to get up but Hatter held her down. "Last man," he warned, and sure enough, she heard one more set of footsteps coming down the stairs and continue past them. She breathed a sigh of relief.

"That was close," she said quietly, standing up slowly and looking around.

"I think we're on the floor for the King's courtiers," Hatter said. He took her by the hand, lacing their fingers together. "Come on, we'll see if we can't find another way out of here." He led her down the hallway, every once in a while checking the doors to see if they were locked. They all were.

They kept walking down the hall until they reached another stairwell. Hatter opened the door slowly and carefully, listening intently before nodding and letting Alice go. She started down the stairs, but suddenly she felt her knee give out and she tumbled down them. She heard Hatter gasp behind her, and felt him try to grab her, but she just kept tumbling down. She felt her back, knees and hips bang against the stairs, and felt her head hit something too. She put out an arm and grabbed hold of the railing, which thankfully stopped her. She gingerly got up, keeping a good grip on the rail, just in case. Hatter nearly flew down the stairs he ran so fast, and Alice was slightly afraid that he would fall too.

"Are you okay, Alice?" he asked once he reached her, running his hands all over her. "What happened?"

"My knee gave way. And yeah, I'm okay," she responded, wincing when he touched her temple. "Hatter, I'm okay," she said, taking a hold of his hands. "I've fallen down before."

"Shh, and just let me check you out for myself please," he replied, withdrawing his hands and continuing to skim them over her body.

"Maybe we can wait to do that when we're out of the castle, when we don't have to worry about Red Knights chasing us?" she said. "I promise to let you examine me, as soon as we're safe." Hatter seemed to take little objection to that, and took her by the hand and led her down the stairs. It seemed like forever, but they finally reached the main floor, and Hatter looked out the door.

"I don't see any Red Knights, so I think we're okay to go." He wrapped an arm around her waist, "Let's get you out of here." They quickly but inconspicuously exited the castle, and only when they were out of the castle and had stepped off the bridge did Hatter relax.

"Now what?" Alice asked, wincing when she put too much weight on her leg. She looked around and so did he. Hatter breathed a sigh of relief.

"Our Flamingo is still there," he said, pointing. "We're going to go back to the city, and see if we can find Duchess. Then, we're going to go and hide out for the night." They walked over to the Flamingo and got on.

"Where are we going?" Alice asked.

"We'll hide out in the forest," Hatter replied with a grin. "It'll be just like old times," he said.

"Yeah, except I remember much less pain being involved last time," Alice quipped. Hatter didn't smile, just shook his head and took her hands. He wrapped her arms around his waist and started up the Flamingo. The journey back into the city didn't take long.

They checked everywhere they could think of, looking for Duchess. They checked the Looking Glass and the area around it, and walked through the city for over an hour before Hatter called it a night. "I have no idea where she is, and we have to get out of the city, before more Knights come looking for us. Besides, you're exhausted. Come on."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: The Forest

By the time they reached the forest, it was nearly dark. Hatter landed the Flamingo pretty easily, and hid it underneath some boughs off of trees. While he did that, Alice leaned against the trunk of a tree, feeling very tired. She felt her eyes drift closed and nearly fell asleep standing, but Hatter shook her awake gently.

"Come on then, sweet," he said, putting an arm around her waist to steady her. "Let's find someplace to sleep." They walked deeper into the forest, so their location wouldn't be given away to anyone looking for them if and when they lit a fire.

Finally they came to a kind of clearing within the trees. He set her down gently. "I'm going to get some firewood and build a fire."

"Okay," she replied, getting up. "While you do that, I'll find something to make a bed out of."

"Love, you don't have to do that," he said, concerned. "I can do it, if you like."

"No, Hatter, I'll do it," Alice said, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Have you got a pocket knife?" she asked舵 holding out her hand.

"Yeah," he said, taking it out of his pocket and giving it to her.

They worked quickly in the fading light. Hatter found dead wood lying around and built a fire pit by digging a hole in the ground and surrounding it with stones, and Alice used the pocketknife to cut boughs off of trees and placed them in a pile. She covered it with moss and leaves to make it a bit more inviting, and in the end she had made them a bed that wasn't too uncomfortable. By the time she was done, Hatter had built a small fire, and he had caught a small animal of some kind and skinned it, and was cooking it over the fire.

"Do I want to know what that is?" Alice asked, walking over to him and sitting down beside him.

"It's a mome rath, well, a smallish one," Hatter answered, putting his arm around her. "Don't worry, they're completely edible."

"Oh, good. Well, as long as it's edible," Alice replied a bit sarcastically. But her stomach rumbled, giving away how hungry she was.

"It's ready," Hatter said a moment later, and took the cooked mome rath off the fire. He cut off a piece of it and gave it to Alice. She popped it in her mouth, wincing a bit because it was still hot, but it was otherwise good. They ate in relative silence, and when they were done, Hatter stood up, taking Alice's hands and pulling her up with him. "Now," he said, "let me see your injuries."

"Hatter, I'm fine," she argued.

"You promised me I could look for myself to see," he persisted, and she relented. Since they were standing in the light of the fire Hatter could peruse her easily, and he skimmed his hands slowly over her body, starting at the top of her head. He tucked her hair behind her ears as he touched her face gently, his fingers gently skimming over her lips and down her chin and neck.

His eyes seemed to bore holes into her; he was looking at her so intently. He brought her over to their makeshift bed and stripped her shirt off over her head so quickly Alice didn't even have time to stop him. That left her in her tank top and she felt goose bumps raise on her arms at the cool of the night, and in anticipation. Hatter didn't give her any time to say anything, because he continued his examination, running his hands down her torso. Goose bumps rose on her skin in a trail that followed his hands, and he noticed. His lips quirked up in a half smile.

"So, what do you think doctor?" Alice asked to break the silence. "Am I going to live?"

"I'm not sure," Hatter replied gravely. "I'm not a doctor." He winked.

"So, this examination was just an excuse to get touchy-feely with me?" Alice asked, feigning outrage.

"Do I need an excuse to be touchy-feely with you?" Hatter asked with a sly smile, which ignited in Alice an excitement that warmed her blood.

"I don't think you do," she said, taking a step closer to him. She reached up and took off his hat, letting it drop to the ground at their feet. She wrapped an arm around his neck, and let her other hand skim up and down the planes of his chest. His breath stuttered, then resumed at a quicker pace. He wrapped an arm around her hips, pulling her into him, where she could feel his budding erection press against her. She let her head fall back, and opened her mouth to lick her lips. Hatter's gaze followed the path of her tongue hungrily, and then he dipped his head down to claim her mouth with his.

Something in her, probably her common sense, told her that maybe this wasn't the time or place to be doing this, but Alice didn't really care. And obviously Hatter didn't care either.

Their kiss was a hungry one, full of lust and desire; things which, up until this point, they had been keeping mostly in check, and on a pretty short leash. Now, however, Alice let her desire for Hatter take the reins, and it was almost as if she was a different person. She had never been a shy lover by any means, but with Hatter she felt a longing so hot she thought she would burn with it. Wished she would.

She lifted up a leg and draped it over his hip, aligning them in such a way to make them both gasp at the pleasure, both potential and real, they felt when they brushed against each other, even through their clothing. She was even so bold as to reach down with her free hand, undo his pants and cup him in her hand. He let out a low moan, before kissing her again with desperation.

His hands were not idle either. They roamed over her body again, though not in the same way as he had before. Now he was not quite so gentle, and allowed his hands to wander up and down her back, and over her ass, pulling her closer to him. His hands worked at the button and zipper on her pants, and soon had her pants off, then pulled her tank top over her head as well, leaving her in nothing but her bra and panties. His eyes roved over her hungrily, and he pulled her against him again, a bit rougher this time.

She pushed the jacket off his shoulders and threw it in the general direction of the bed, and pulled his shirt up over his head. She was going to go to work on his pants next, but she got a bit distracted at his chest, and spent a few minutes tracing it with her fingertips and kissing it, making his breath hitch. She moved her head up to nuzzle his neck, and let her fingers wander lower, to push his already loose trousers off. He stepped out of them easily, taking his shoes and socks with them, and kicking them towards the bed.

He crushed her against him again, with nothing but his boxers and her panties in the way, and kissed her deeply. Finally he seemed to have had enough, and picked her up. She wrapped her legs around his hips, which elicited another moan from him. He carried her the few steps to the bed, then gingerly laid her on it, making sure their clothes were underneath her to provide a better cushion.

When she felt his weight on top of her, she sighed happily. Hatter grinned, rearing back to put most of his weight on his elbow, so he could reach around her to unsnap her bra, which he did with very little difficulty. Once her breasts were freed of the constraints of the bra, and he had thrown it away from them, he rubbed his hands over them gently, making Alice moan a little in pleasure. She arched her back and nearly purred when he lowered his head to take a nipple in his mouth. While he lathed attention on her breasts one of his hands drifted lower, to push her panties off her hips and down her legs. It returned to the junction between her legs to gently tease, until her hips were moving impatiently and she was making kittenish noises. Alice even thought she heard herself say "Please, Hatter," though she wasn't sure.

Her own hands, seemingly of their own volition, also drifted lower to push at the boxers Hatter was still wearing, and, once he was freed of those, to stroke him in her hands. Once they were both at a fever pitch, Hatter put a knee between her legs to open them, and settled between them, nestled at her entrance. He raised himself up on his elbows to look deeply into her eyes for a moment. Then he surged forward, entering her in one swift thrust that left them both breathless.

Hatter didn't move for a moment, closing his eyes tight and breathing shallowly. Alice wriggled impatiently, but Hatter held her still. "Alice, it's been....if you do that again this could be over before..." Alice lay still, but tensed her inner muscles, making Hatter's eyes pop open. The look on his face was so funny she almost laughed, so she did it again. "Saints and sinners, Alice!" he exclaimed. "What are you _do_ing?" he asked, with emphasis on the 'do'.

"What? This?" she asked, tensing and holding it for a moment before releasing him.

"Yes, that," he panted.

"Why?" she asked, feigning innocence. "Don't you like it? Would you like me to stop?" she blinked up at him, looking very innocent.

"Do I like it?" he asked, incredulous. "I love it. Now," he said, drawing back slowly, until he was barely inside her. "Do it again." When she did, he thrust forward, making her eyes cross with bliss. He continued to thrust in and out of her, faster and faster until Alice didn't think she could take any more.

"Oh. My. God." It was all she could get out and then she was exploding into tiny bits, and could almost see stars behind her eyelids. She was barely coming down from her precipice when Hatter threw his head back and roared something when his release hit him, and she felt herself go over the edge again.

Alice's eyelids fluttered open after another moment or two of pure bliss. "Hmm..." she said, apparently unable to form words yet. Hatter was lying on top of her, both their bodies glistened with sweat in the moonlight, and she was incredibly comfortable, and didn't want to move. Ever.

Of course, they couldn't very well just stay like that forever, and Hatter rolled off of her, bringing her with him so she was nestled under his arm, her head on his shoulder. He reached over and grabbed something, she thought it was his jacket, and draped it over them. She was drifting asleep, sated and content when, right at the edges of her subconscious, she heard Hatter's voice.

"I love you."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: And the Mome Raths Outgrabe

Alice's eyes snapped open. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Or, rather, what she had heard. Luckily for her, Hatter had said it right before he fell asleep, and Alice could tell by his steady breathing that he was sleeping now. She wriggled out of his grasp gently, so as not to wake him up. She felt around until she found her clothes, and wriggled off the makeshift bed quietly and went to stand in front of the dying fire to get dressed. She had a bit of a hard time at it however, because of the fact that her hands were shaking pretty heavily.

"Great Alice, just great," she muttered to herself quietly, glancing over at Hatter every so often in order to make sure he was still sleeping. "The guy you're dating tells you he loves you, and you have a panic attack!" She did have to admit to herself that what she was feeling wasn't all bad. There was a part of her that was giddy with happiness at the fact that Hatter loved her, was even considering waking him up just to hear him say it again, and wanted very badly to say it back; however, the bigger, commitment-phobic part of her was having a meltdown. A big one. Like, on the scale of a nuclear power plant exploding meltdown.

Once Alice had her clothes all back on she sat on the ground and stared into what was left of the fire. "Okay, Alice, think this through," she coached herself. "People tell other people they love them all the time. Sometimes after sex. Especially after sex." A thought occurred to her. What if Hatter had just said it as a kind of reflex? It was possible, Alice supposed, except that made her feel somehow worse. She didn't want someone to say 'I love you' to her if it wasn't true. "So, maybe he does love me," she pondered, still thinking out loud, "but the sex made him say it before he would have originally. So really, it's almost as if he didn't say it." She paused. "So, we're going to just ignore it, yes?" she asked herself. And hope he doesn't say it again, she said in her head. She nodded her head resolutely, even though she knew that ignoring it was really not the way to go. However, she figured she could push the problem to the back of her mind, seeing as how she was in Wonderland, trying to save someone, who just happened to be her ex-boyfriend, from potentially mortal peril.

"Freud would have a field day with me," she said to herself out loud. "Add in the fact that I can't seem to stop talking to myself, and we've got an entire Psychiatry convention." She shook her head in consternation. Stop it, she told herself sternly, and was very proud of the fact that she said it in her head.

She looked up at the night sky. It was still dark. She had plenty of time to get to sleep, and be rested in the morning. Then she could deal with the whole Jack situation, then go home and maybe even deal with her feelings for Hatter. But it had to at least be daylight.

So she crawled back into the makeshift bed she'd created, snuggled into Hatter's side, made sure he was covered as much as possible, closed her eyes, and, much to her own surprise, fell asleep.

A few hours later she was startled awake by something. Her mind didn't stay long on the thing that startled her, because it was wondering about her surroundings. She idly wondered why she was out in the woods, lying next to a very naked Hatter. It only took a moment for the last day's events to unfold in her head and clarify the situation. Once she knew why she was out in a forest, her mind eventually came back to the fact that she had been woken up by something. A kind of thump-thump. And it was a distinct possibility that that something was a hungry animal of some kind. A big, hungry animal of some kind.

Trying to make as little noise as possible, Alice nudged Hatter awake. "Hatter."

Apparently Hatter was a pretty light sleeper, because he woke quickly and was pretty alert. "What is it?" he asked, sitting up and putting his body in front of Alice so he was between her and whatever threat might be out there.

"Something woke me up," she said to him in a stage whisper, pulling him back a bit.

"We're in a forest, love," Hatter said, as if he were speaking to a child. "There are bound to be noises." His eye twinkled mischievously. "Unless you just wanted an excuse to wake me up?" He gave Alice a look that made an anticipatory shiver run up her spine. He leaned in to her to brush his lips against hers, even grabbed the back of her neck with one hand to pull her in closer, when Alice heard the noise again. Hatter heard it too, and he froze.

"Bollocks," he said, jumping up quickly and finding his clothes. He put them on quickly and easily, while peering out into the woods.

"What is it?" Alice asked, very concerned, getting up as well.

"Not to alarm you, love, but do you remember the last time we were in the forest?" Hatter asked, finding his hat and putting it on his head.

"Yes," Alice said, understanding dawning on her. "The Jabberwock?" she asked.

Hatter nodded. "I'm thinking so," he said. "Alice, love, do you remember what I asked you to do last time?" At her blank stare he nodded towards a tree. "Climb a tree. The Jabberwock tends to not look up for his dinner, so try to climb a tall one. And don't make a sound."

"What are you going to do?" she asked worriedly. "You're not going to try and lure him away from here are you? Because that plan didn't fly with me before, and it won't fly with me now." She pointed up into the highest tree she could see. "You're going to get your cute little ass up that tree with me right now, or so help me Hatter, I'll feed you to the blasted Jabberwock myself!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that, love," Hatter said, looking past her, fear in his eyes, his body tense.

"Please, do not tell me that blasted Jabberwock is behind me," Alice demanded.

"Okay, I won't tell you," Hatter replied cheekily, forcing a weak smile.

"Shut up," Alice said, turning her head to glance over her shoulder. Sure enough, the Jabberwock was standing just beyond the tree line. It was just as ugly as Alice remembered it. It reminded her of a really ugly dragon, what with its bluish-grey scaly skin, and strange-looking head with buggy eyes. However, for all its ugliness, it was clearly the top predator in the forest, because it towered above any creature Alice had ever seen or heard of. Now, its eyes rolled around in a somewhat hilarious manner, until it set its sights on them. It crouched down, in a way that reminded Alice of how a cat gets ready to pounce on a mouse, and it roared.

"Shit!" Alice took off, grabbing Hatter's hand and pulling him along. It only took him a few strides before he was running alongside her, even outpaced her. But he never let go of her hand. Alice risked a quick look back, to see how close the Jabberwock was, and tripped. She fell on her hands and knees, scratching them up pretty good on what she assumed were sticks. She heard Hatter's sharp intake of breath in front of her and he turned to help her, but she got up again on her own, ignoring the sharp pain of the new cuts on her hands and knees, as well as the ache of the day-old injuries that she had sustained yesterday. "Go!" she yelled, waving Hatter on as she continued running.

She was all of a sudden incredibly glad that she had continued running every day, because it gave her the speed and stamina she needed to outrun the Jabberwock. Hatter, however, hadn't been running, and although he was in shape, Alice could feel him start to slow down, breathing laboriously. She felt a sudden stab of fear in her midsection, not for her, for him.

"Come on Hatter, don't slow down," she encouraged under her breath. She was running beside him then, her strides starting to lengthen as she got into the familiar rhythm of a run. Hatter's strides, however, were shortening, and Alice knew that if he slowed down any more the Jabberwock would get them. Suddenly an idea popped into her head. A dangerous idea; one she knew Hatter would not care for at all. But she had to do something. "Hatter," she said to get his attention.

"What?" he asked, wheezing.

"Keep running, okay?" she said.

"I'm not....bloody well....going....to stop...now am I?" he panted back to her.

"Good," she said. She put a hand on his back, and pushed as hard as she could, to give him a boost. Then, she stopped running. She heard Hatter make a confused sound, and then it turned into a terrified yell. But she ignored it.

She only stopped for a second, long enough for the Jabberwock to almost catch up to her. Long enough for it to notice her, and lock its eyes on her. When she knew it had her in its sights, she took off again, away from Hatter. As she had hoped, it chased after her.

She found it was easier to outrun the Jabberwock when she only had to worry about herself. She could lengthen her stride, and really run fast. She didn't have to worry that Hatter couldn't run fast enough, wasn't scared out of her mind for him.

She heard Hatter yelling behind her somewhere, and heard the yell fade away as she covered more ground. She chanced a look back, and saw that the Jabberwock was still trailing her, but she was outrunning it. She grinned, and then kicked it into high gear.

A moment later, she heard a kind of coughing-grumble, and looked back, to see the Jabberwock stop and turn away. She slowed down to a jog, even turned around and started walking slowly and quietly back. In a moment, the Jabberwock was out of sight. She stopped after a few feet, stood quietly, and waited. When the Jabberwock didn't suddenly spring out at her she closed her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief.

She was still standing there when she heard Hatter's noisy approach. It was clear from his stride that he was very unhappy. She looked up to see him approach, and saw some emotion glinting in his eyes.

"What in the bloody blue blazes were you thinking?" he asked, voice thick with anger, and another emotion that Alice was pretty certain was fear, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her into his. He hugged her hard, and Alice could feel him shaking slightly. "I have never in all my life..." he breathed out heavily, and rested his head on hers. "I have never been so scared in all my life."

Alice mistook his meaning. "I know, and that's why I went off in another direction," she started to say.

"Are you bloody insane?" he asked, backing up and bracing his hands on her arms. "I meant I have never been so scared in all my life when you went running off in another direction. Alice, I almost had a heart attack. Why would you do such a...a crazy thing? Do you have a death wish?" he asked, shaking her slightly. Alice got a good look at him, then. His face was tight, and his eyes...his eyes were wild. He was looking at her, but not seeing her.

"Hatter, calm down," Alice said, reaching up and grabbing his face in her hands and to make him look at her. "Hatter, I did what I did because I knew the Jabberwock would catch you. I was outrunning it easily, but you haven't been running, and I could tell you were tiring. So I did what I had to do."

"What you had to do?" Hatter exclaimed, pulling her into his embrace again. "Alice, you didn't have to endanger your own life for me. I would have been fine; we would have been able to outrun it. Jabberwock can't run for long distances anyway, he's too big, it drains his energy too much. But Alice, love, when you stopped, it could have caught you. And there would have been nothing I could have done." He shuddered. "Alice, please don't do anything like that ever again."

"Hatter," she said, "I'm fine. I outran it easily, I could have run in circles around it." She reached up and kissed his forehead.

I know you're fast, love, and that you could have outrun it, but what if you'd tripped? If it had caught you?" he shuddered. "Love, I don't know what I would have done." He kissed her forehead. "Love, if something were to happen to you...I'd be lost."

"Oh, Hatter," Alice said with a small smile, "don't you understand that I feel the same way? I couldn't have taken losing you to the Jabberwock, which is why I ran in another direction." She kissed his lips gently. "I did it to save you." Hatter just looked at her, slightly shocked. Then, he smiled and shook his head ruefully at her.

"Right, well, we'd better get out of this forest then, yeah?" he said. "Seems we should try to find Duchess, see what the word is." He took her by the hand and they began walking back to their makeshift camp, and to the Flamingo they'd hidden last night.

"And we're going to have to sneak back into the castle," Alice mused.

"Hold that thought," Hatter interrupted. "Why are we sneaking back into the castle?"

"Well, we still don't know where they have Jack, maybe some of those Red Knights will be there, and we can follow them to figure out where they have him."

"Fantastic," was all Hatter said.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: I am so sorry it has been so long since my last update, but it's exam season and the muse was having some trouble banging out this chapter. Hope you all like. Please let me know what you think, both about this chapter, and any other chapter, or the story in general. Thanks. : )

Chapter 9: The Terms

They couldn't find Duchess. This didn't really surprise Hatter, because he suspected that she had been taken by the Red Knights. Duchess didn't really strike him as the type of woman who could easily outrun...well, anybody. Just to be safe, they had searched the city, pretty well top to bottom, paying the closest attention to the area around the Looking Glass. But there was no sign of her.

Luckily, Hatter still had a few contacts in the city, and he still knew where everyone lived. So he decided it was time to go and look up Dodo, and maybe Dormouse. There were folks who tended to keep their ears to the ground, and eyes to peepholes, no matter what was going on, and Dodo and Dormouse were two such characters. (Even though one wouldn't necessarily think that, seeing as how Dormouse was always asleep, but it was true nonetheless.)

So he took Alice through the city, keeping his hand twined with hers, because he remembered how little she liked the heights. He didn't even have to think about the direction he was taking, really, he had walked this city front to back, up and down for years. Instead he thought about Alice, and last night.

He was acutely aware of her walking next to him, even more than he usually was. His ears seemed to be attuned to the steady gait of her walk, her easy breathing. He could even smell her, in fact, the scent of their lovemaking last night still clung to her body and it tickled his nostrils. Her hand was warm in his, and unconsciously his thumb feathered over the back of her hand reassuringly. Images of last night flashed behind his eyes, of Alice lying, naked, underneath him, writhing in her pleasure. At that moment he really wanted nothing more than to push her into a dark alleyway, and have his way with her again. And Jack and the rest of Wonderland be damned.

However, he knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that Alice would not take kindly to that sentiment. She felt the need to help others, and so he pushed that thought out of his head and led Alice to his old tea shop, which Dormouse had bought from him and taken over. Obviously he wasn't selling Pearl, since it had been outlawed. But the tea shop was prime real estate, and selling it had paid Hatter a pretty penny. He wasn't entirely sure what Dormouse would have done with the place, but he had a sneaking suspicion that, whatever it was, it wasn't entirely legitimate. And so he was quite sure that he didn't really want Alice to get caught up in it.

They stood in front of it, next to the old red phone booth that was still there. The outside of the building looked similar to what it always had, and Hatter could hear the bustle of people inside. He gently pushed Alice against the booth. "Stay here while I go in and see what's what, okay?" he asked. "When I know it's safe I'll come out and get you." Alice gave him a look, but nodded in compliance. She crossed her arms and leaned against the booth.

Before he left her, he leaned in and brushed his lips against hers. At the contact he felt the familiar jolt of electricity he always felt when he kissed Alice, and could have spent a few more minutes just kissing her, but he used some self-restraint and stepped away from her.

He walked towards his old shop, re-adopting the cocky, confident saunter that he always used to use when he lived in Wonderland. It wouldn't do to look like you were an easy target in Wonderland, he'd found that out the hard way growing up. So he walked around like he owned the place, and coupled with his reputation, people mostly left him alone.

The interior of the shop had been changed around a lot, and it took him a moment to get used to the new surroundings. The floor had been covered, for one, in some kind of blue stone, and walls had been built, making the room smaller. He was standing in some kind of foyer, and a squat older woman was sitting at a desk in front of him. She was paying very little attention to him, and didn't even look up from the paper she was reading.

"If you are here to see Dormouse, he's busy with an engagement," she said, sounding very bored. "But if you would like to take a seat in the waiting room, I can have one of the girls come out and entertain you." Hatter could tell that was she said was meant to be encouraging, and it struck him that Dormouse had turned his tea shop into a brothel. Somehow, the idea didn't surprise him in the least.

"Can you get a hold of him?" Hatter said, "it's a matter of great import."

The woman looked at him over her spectacles, and must have seen something in his eyes that told her he was serious, and nodded her head. "I can get him a message, but you will have to wait in the other room. It may take him, erm, a while to get to his messages."

He just nodded at her once. "Tell 'im that Hatter is here to see him, and he'll know it's important." He opened the door and waved to Alice, who was still leaning against the phone booth, looking rather worried. When she saw him she pushed herself off and walked briskly towards him.

He gently too hold of her arm and leaned in to whisper in her ear, "It's not a tea shop anymore, it's a brothel. Keep your calm, we won't be here long." She gave him an unreadable look, but kept her mouth shut and let him lead her into the waiting room, where several well-used couches were lined up against the walls. In this room the floor was just grass, and it took Hatter a moment before he realized that this was where the selling of the Pearl had gone on when he'd owned the shop. He wrinkled his nose in distaste.

"Seems like it doesn't matter who owns the place, there are always reprehensible activities going on inside," he muttered, hating himself for being little more than a drug dealer. Alice seemed to realize what was going on in his head and touched his upper arm gently. When he turned to look at her, she gave him a small smile, and squeezed his arm. It made him feel slightly better.

"Hatter!" Dormouse's voice carried in the room loudly, surprising him somewhat. He whirled around to see Dormouse standing at the foot of a set of stairs he hadn't noted before. "Well, come into my office, well it used to be your office, didn't it?" Dormouse chuckled to himself, and led them down a very familiar, and yet completely unfamiliar hallway.

Hatter couldn't help but be surprised at the differences in what used to be his office. The walls were painted, for one thing, some awful orange colour. All of his furniture had been removed, and it was replaced with large brown desks, bookcases, and chairs. The place was a mess. Dormouse didn't seem to mind and plonked himself down in the big chair behind the biggest desk. He moved some papers away and put his elbows on the desk and steepled his fingers. "So, what brings ya back to Wonderland, and what can I do ya for?" he asked, speaking in much the same manner as Hatter remembered.

"Information," Hatter began, "on the King, the Red Knights, a fellow names Eagle, and the person he works for." He ticked off the items on his fingers in quick succession.

Dormouse sat back. "Eagle, eh?" he pushed himself back and pondered for a moment. "Heard of him, shifty sucker. Good fighter, cunning...merc, or so I'm told. Dunno who's pulling his strings at present. He fell off the grid, as it were, a few months back. Hadn't seen hide nor hair of him." He squinted at the two of them. "Why? What is it you've gotten yourselves into this time? And what's it to do with the new King?"

"Don't play the fool with me, Dormouse," Hatter said, leaning, palms flat, on the desk. "I knew it as soon as I saw you that you know all about the King's kidnapping. Now tell me what I need to know about it kidnappers so we can go save him and get back before we're missed."

Dormouse shrugged. "Don't know exactly who's pullin' the strings of the operation, 'cept that the lackeys call the guy in charge the Master. Wants the Stone of Wonderland, likely to open up the Looking Glass to its full potential again, I suppose. He's holding the King, and Duchess as well. The Red Knights took her yesterday as she tried to flee the new castle. I can't be a hundred percent sure as to where they're being held, but my guess would be that it's somewhere close by, else it'd be a lot harder for him to keep track of the minions. I'll keep an ear open, try to pick up any buzz that's bein' said."

"Fine, we'll be in touch," Hatter said and turned to go.

"Ah ah ah, wait a moment," Dormous held up a hand. He rubbed his fingers together in the well-known gesture of money. "What, exactly, am I being paid for this?"

Alice spoke up here, "Paid? You haven't told us anything we didn't know already. We're not going to pay you for information we already knew, nor are we paying you for information we don't know we'll get. You find us some info, then we'll talk about payment." She took a rather menacing step forward, and Hatter wondered when his Alice had gotten so scary. "You got a problem with that?"

Dormouse shook his head quickly, holding his hands up. "None at all." Alice just nodded, and turned on her heel and left the room, apparently trusting that Hatter would be following right behind her. Once they were outside and Hatter had ushered her down an alleyway she huffed impatiently.

"Now what?" she asked, "That wasn't helpful at all," she sighed, and leaned against Hatter's shoulder. He leaned forward slightly to inhale her scent, needing it in order to get rid of the disgusting smell from the brothel.

"Nothing for it, I suppose, but to go back to the castle and see what we can find," Hatter said, very unhappy at the prospect of going back to Jack's castle. Alice just nodded in acquiescence.

Alice saw it first. In the middle of the bedroom was a red and white marbled pedestal. On it, a single sheet of papyrus. A paper weight sat on the middle of the paper, as she rushed forward she saw that it was a wood figurine, carved and painted into the likeness of Jack, sitting down, his arms tied behind him and his face contorted in pain. Somehow Alice knew that this was probably exactly how Jack was being treated at that moment.

She lifted the paperweight up, and placed it at the top of the pedestal, so she could see what the paper said. Words were written on the paper in red ink, written in careful and delicate handwriting. Alice scanned the paper, reading it quickly, and gasped at what she read:

"_If you are reading this, Alice, it means that you are just as predictable as I suspected _

_You will cooperate with me fully, unless you wish for the new King to die a horrible death_

_Do exactly as I say, and I will reward you with the life of Wonderland's King_

_Cross me, and I will torture and kill Jack, your mad Hatter and someone else you hold dear_

_And I'll make you watch, before I kill you too_

_I know that you now hold only one piece of the Stone_

_I have the other three pieces _

_I will contact you again tomorrow evening at sunset_

_Be on the west side of the castle, under the large tum-tum tree_

_Come alone._

_Until then, farewell."_

Alice passed the sheet of paper to Hatter, who read it quickly. He jaw tensed and his eyes went dark and flat as he read it.

"This guy knew you had a piece of the Stone, and he knew you would come back, even after you ran from his Red Knights," Hatter said angrily. Alice nodded her agreement. "But I do know one thing," he said.

"What?"

"You're bloody well not going to meet him alone. It's obviously a trap."

"I don't know that we have much of a choice," Alice responded. "Didn't you read the note? If we cross whoever it is, they'll kill Jack."

"Alice, listen to me," he took her by the hands and looked deeply into her eyes. "I'm not just going to let you go and walk into a trap. This person, whoever he is, will very likely snatch you and take you someplace to be killed, or worse." He kissed the backs of her hands gently. "I'm not about to let that happen."

"Don't worry," she said confidently, "I've had a thought. We should see if we can find Charlie, I'm sure he'd be helpful. He might know something."

"You think so, do you?" Hatter asked her. "Do you really think that decrepit old man is still kicking around the Tulgey forest?"

"I don't just think so, I know so." Alice flashed him a bright smile, and Hatter felt his feelings of doubt melt away, and be replaced by a certainty that his Alice knew what she was doing, which triggered a very male reaction to her confidence. He decided that as soon as they got out of the castle, it was a necessity that he get very up close and personal with Alice. He figured it must have been at least 12 hours since their last tumble. He grinned at her, and her returning grin let him know that she was thinking something along the same lines.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: So I'm truly sorry about it very long wait for this chapter, but I was going through end of the year exams, and a wicked writer's block. Anyway, hope this was worth the wait.

P.S. Reviews make for a happy me, and makes me eager to write more!

Chapter 10: A Touch of Mad

Hatter had an uncanny sense of direction. He still remembered the way to the remains of the White King's castle, where she was sure Charlie still resided. Unfortunately for them, their Flamingo ran out of gas when they were halfway there, so they had to walk. Luckily, it wasn't too far.

They hadn't made it all the way to Charlie's outer perimeter when he was suddenly twenty yards in front of them, wielding his sword menacingly. "Who dares to enter here?" he called out. He was still dressed the same way Alice remembered him. However, it was clear he didn't know who they were. "Just turn around and go back to the heathen place you came from!" he shouted, shaking the sword angrily.

Alice took a step forward, hoping he'd be able to see her better. "Charlie, it's us."

"You dare to call me, the White Knight, by my first name? Be gone, foul witch, and accompanying familiar!"

"Great," Hatter muttered, "now I'm a witch's familiar." He took hold of Alice's arm and pulled her back. "Just stay put love, let him get a good look at us." He sounded worried, which worried Alice. So she took a faltering step back, wishing she knew why Charlie didn't recognize them.

"It's Alice," she called out, "and Hatter."

"Alice?" the name seemed to make him pause. "The Alice?"

"No, just Alice."

Charlie pursed his lips, thoughtful, and cautiously stepped toward them, so he could see them more easily.

It wasn't until he got a good look at them that he dropped the weapon to the ground, totally forgetting about it, and rushed towards them happily. Charlie was extremely excited and pleased to see Alice. He excitedly threw his arms around her in a very tight hug, and she hugged him back, as hard as she dared, considering the fact that he hadn't recognized them a moment ago. The years didn't look as if they'd been very kind to Charlie.

He looked similar to what she remembered, but he was...less. He was looking frailer, and was thinner than Alice remembered. He was less...present as well. He had always been a bit flighty, or "mad as a box of frogs", but it was worse now. And it was clear to her that Hatter could see it too. A glance in his direction showed his jaw set tighter than what it would normally be around the old man.

"Charlie, how are you?" she asked, slightly afraid of the answer she would get.

"Oh perfect, you know, a few years left in the old bones yet. I am a knight," was Charlie's response. He led them back to the camp that he evidently still lived at, every once in a while singing "hey nonny nonny."

They walked a few paces behind Charlie, and Alice whispered in Hatter's ear. "What's wrong with him?"

"He's mad," Hatter replied quietly.

"Excuse me? He was mad before, but it's different now."

"Mad with a capital M. He's been touched with Mad."

"Touched with Mad?" Alice asked, confused. "How does someone get touched with madness?"

"It's not that he was touched with madness, love," Hatter explained. "It's a kind of virus, a sickness, here in Wonderland. You Otherworlders might refer to it as a mental illness, but it's more complicated than that. We call it the Madness, or say someone's been touched by it. But madness is just a symptom of the disease as a whole."

"How do you mean?" Alice asked, worried. "If he's sick, why isn't anyone taking care of him?"

Hatter sighed, taking off his hat and dragging a hand through his hair. "People are afraid it's contagious, so if someone has it, most will steer clear. And the rest of the symptoms of Mad are not all as seemingly harmless as being mad or forgetting things. The later stages of the disease...are not good."

"Not good?" Alice inquired, furrowing her brow, "how not good?" she asked, suspicious.

"Not good as in dead."

That stopped Alice in her tracks. "What?" she nearly yelled it, hoping she'd heard him wrong, and she felt a weight in the pit of her stomach. Hatter took hold of her arm and pulled her along.

"Alice, love, don't yell. You may startle him into an episode. I suspect that Charlie was infected a short time ago, perhaps even just before we met him. In the early stages of the illness you see periods of forgetfulness, madness, even violence and aggression, interspersed with periods of perfect lucidity. But it's hard to tell how long each period will last, or what could set him off. This is a reason why most steer clear of those diagnosed with, or even suspected to have Mad."

"This disease...is going to kill him?" Alice asked.

"Unfortunately....yes," Hatter replied. He cleared his throat. "But that won't likely be for a while yet. The disease moves slowly. And it's not til the later stages where the bad symptoms start to show."

"What are the bad symptoms?" Alice asked, fearing the answer.

"Being sick a lot...vomiting, diarrhoea, coughing up blood, sleep apnea, going blind or deaf for periods of time, hallucinations, depression. Some will try to commit suicide...." Hatter trailed off.

"Isn't there some kind of vaccine? Or cure?" Alice asked, feeling tears build up behind her eyes.

"I'm afraid not," Hatter replied. "Once you catch it...you have it for life." He smiled weakly at her. "I do know that it's not contagious to Otherworlders. So you won't catch it. And I think Charlie is past the time when he's contagious, if he was ever contagious at all."

Alice didn't ask any more questions for the rest of the trip to Charlie's home. She didn't trust herself not to cry for Charlie and the fate that awaited him. She wondered if Charlie himself even knew that he was sick, or if he was blissfully ignorant of the fact that he was dying.

Once they reached Charlie's home, he sat down on his customary stump and started breaking sticks on his knee. "So, what brings you and your harbinger through the Looking Glass and out into the Tulgey wood to look after an old white knight? That King Jack, he's been captured hasn't he?" Alice and Hatter just gaped open-mouthed at him. "And, my guess is his kidnapper wants the Stone of Wonderland, a piece of which you have hanging on your ear." He went on without missing a beat.

"How did you know that?" Alice asked, incredulous.

"I may be old, and quite mad, but I still dabble in the Black Arts every now and again," Charlie answered with a waggle of his eyebrows.

"Great," was Hatter's response. "Also, could you stop calling me a harbinger? Or a vessel? Or anything other than Hatter?"

Charlie waved him off and looked at Alice. "So, how can I be of service to you, my dear Alice?"

"Well, Charlie, we have a slight problem. We have this piece of the Stone, and I have to go meet this guy tomorrow at sunset, but I don't much want to bring him the final piece. So I was thinking of pulling the old switcheroo."

"The old switcheroo?" Charlie echoed, clearly not understanding.

"The old switcheroo," Hatter also echoed, but his tone was akin to what Alice referred to as an 'Aha!' moment. "Alice, you are a genius!"

'Thank you, I do try." She looked at Charlie. "My plan is to find someone to make a copy of this piece, hide the real thing, and go to the meeting tomorrow night, get Jack and Duchess back, and give the guy the fake one. Now, there are problems with this plan. One: I don't know anyone who could do this for me. Two: I will need a place to hide the real piece, where this guy is not going to think to look. Clearly when I meet him I can`t have the piece on me."

"Three," Hatter interrupted, "she is not going to meet this guy alone, if at all."

Alice sighed, annoyed. "Hatter, did you read the note? Did you see the carving of Jack? They're probably torturing him, or worse."

"There was a figurine?" Charlie asked, perking up.

Alice frowned. "I guess you could call it a figurine. I would call it a wood carving."

He leaned forward, a gleam in his eye. "Do you have it?" Hatter and Alice exchanged confused glances.

"Yeah, I brought it with me," Hatter said, taking it out of his jacket pocket, along with the note. He handed them over to Charlie, who took them and immediately poured all his attention into them. "Charlie," Hatter said, snapping his fingers. "What do they mean?"

"It means, you useless harbinger, that I know who has taken the new King, and possibly where he is holding him captive." Charlie paused for dramatic effect. "And I can tell you how to get them out."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Disappointment

A/N: Soooo sorry for the long wait, guys. Crazy writer's block. Nothing wanted to work. Hopefully the next chapter will be easier. Here's hoping *crosses fingers* Anyway, enjoy! I'll try to update again soon!

Alice was ecstatic. Charlie knowing who was behind Jack's kidnapping solved pretty much all of their problems. They could go in, rescue Jack and Duchess, get out and go home. She glanced over at Hatter, who was sitting on the ground beside her, and harboured secret thoughts that included the two of them in her bed for hours. It would be nice to finally do it in the comfort of her own home, instead of out in the woods. Hatter caught her eye and his lip quirked up, letting her know that he knew what she was thinking about. He could probably read it all over her face. So she worked to compose herself and brought her attention back to Charlie. She sat forward in her seat.

"Well, go on Charlie, tell us who has Jack," she urged when Charlie stopped talking.

A confused look crossed Charlie's face. "Who has Jack? Hmm...I've never met anyone called Who. Very bizarre choice for a name, if you ask me."

Alice's heart sunk. Evidently Charlie's lucid moments didn't last long. She tried again anyway. "Charlie, you said you could tell us about the man who's holding Jack, the King, hostage."

Now Charlie looked confused, and quite concerned that he didn't know what she was talking about. He frowned, opened his mouth as if to speak, but closed it. Alice could see that he was working himself into some kind of state, and could get violent. She cast another look at Hatter, this time silently asking him what they were going to do. He stood up, and plucked the carving and note from the old man's hands, and swiftly deposited them in a pocket, out of sight.

"Charlie," he said, his voice soft and gentle, "can you do me a favour?" Charlie looked up at him, clearly ready to help. Hatter took hold of his arm and brought him to his feet, and draped an arm across the man's shoulders. "I'm afraid that Alice isn't safe. You know how she attracts trouble. Would you mind terribly checking the perimeter?" He slowly walked a few steps, effectively herding Charlie away from Alice.

Charlie, of course, jumped at the opportunity to act heroic. "I shall vigilantly check the outer perimeter for threats against Just Alice, in order to keep her safe from harm." He made a little bow and strode off into the woods. "Don't worry, I'll be perfectly safe. I'm a knight." Hatter and Alice watched after him.

"Brilliant," was all Hatter said when Charlie was out of earshot. "It figures that the only person who can probably help us can't stay lucid for more than a few minutes at a time." He sat back down on the ground in front of Alice, and leaned against her knees.

"I suppose we're just going to have to stick to the original plan," Alice sighed, reaching down to tangle her fingers in Hatter's hair. Hatter leaned his head back into her touch, relaxing slightly at the feel of her. "Who do we know who can make a copy of the piece? And can they copy it in enough time?"

Hatter just nodded. "I have a contact who lives on the outskirts of one of the towns. A jack-of-all-trades kind of guy. If I leave within the next hour, I can get there and back here in plenty of time, probably before the end of today. Do you know where you want to hide the real one?"

"I was thinking that here was as good a place as any. It's out of the way and not that many people know where it is, and the few who do probably won't tell anyone about it. And if someone does....Charlie's....madness may actually be a good thing here, because if anyone were to come to ask about it, he won't be able to tell them anything. And his.... condition would probably send them away." Alice paused. "Wait, when you say, 'if I leave', you mean just you don't you?"

Hatter sighed. "Alice, I think it's best if you stayed here for this. The fewer people who know you're here the better. And this guy is definitely someone you don't want to know. Or have him know you. And you'd be safe here with Charlie...well safe-ish. Safer than you would be travelling with me all across Wonderland and back again. Just try not to excite Charlie too much. Maybe try questioning him about this Master guy. Use these," he said, digging into his coat pockets and bringing out the wood carving and note and handing them to Alice, "to try to jog his memory. He recognized something about that carving. And that's our ticket to saving Jack." He said Jack's name with such distaste (he even scrunched his nose up in the way he did when he tasted something foul) that Alice had to smile. All this time and Hatter was still jealous of her ex-boyfriend. She made a mental note to never let him meet any of her other (and many) exes.

Alice nodded. "Okay."

Hatter did a double take. "Okay?"

"That's what I said, isn't it?"

"Alice, you have never agreed with me on...anything when we were in Wonderland." He looked at her suspiciously. "What are you up to?"

"I'm not up to anything," she replied, shaking her head. "I agree with you that the less people who know I'm here the better. Besides," she said, looking in the direction Charlie had gone, "I've missed Charlie, and he's been alone for awhile, so I'm sure he could use the company." She smiled reassuringly at him, even took the earring out and gave it to him.

He squinted at her for a few beats, then sighed. "Alright then. When Charlie comes back I'll tell him I'm leaving, and then I'll go. Just promise me one thing."

"Yeah?"

"If Charlie goes off...like really goes off. You get out of here. I know you love the old coot to death, but this madness is hard to understand sometimes. One of the reasons why people shun those with the condition is that they can get very violent. So, take care of yourself, before you take care of him. Okay?" He stared hard at her, so she would know that he was serious. Finally, she nodded.

It wasn't much longer when Charlie showed up again. Luckily, he seemed to recall who they were and why they were there. "The perimeter is secure," he announced, sounding very pleased with himself. "I invented a new security system....it's booby trapped, you see. Very clever, if I may say so myself. No one could possibly get in or out of here without having their heads chopped clean off their bodies!"

Alice smiled up at Charlie. "That's great Charlie," she said, even if the statement had made her slightly uncomfortable.

Hatter stood up next to Charlie. "Brilliant. Do you think you could tell me how to get out of here? I have to go into one of the towns. Meet up with a contact of mine. You can watch Alice, can't you Charlie? Keep her safe while I'm gone?"

"Of course, harbinger. What with my crack security system, and my knightliness, and my dabbling in the Dark Arts, we'll be right as rain. You needn't fret over Alice while I'm around," Charlie answered with his usual gusto. Alice hid a smile behind her hand.

Charlie had soon explained to Hatter the safest route out of his booby trapped forest, and Hatter leaned down and gave Alice a quick kiss good-bye. Before he could pull away, Alice grabbed hold of his shirt collar and pulled him back to kiss him soundly.

"You come back to me in one piece, you hear?" she told him after the kiss, not letting go of his shirt.

He grinned, "Yes, love, I shall do my very best."

Alice kissed him again. "Good." She let go of his shirt and he strode off, whistling some tune or other under his breath. Alice turned to Charlie. "So, what's for lunch?" she asked brightly.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve: The Revelation

Alice sat with Charlie around the campfire, eating some kind of stew. They spoke of many things, although sometimes Alice had a hard time keeping track of the conversation; as sometimes Charlie started talking off on a tangent. Usually he got back to the conversation they were supposed to be having, but other times he didn't. And Alice feared to try to push him too hard in his condition. However, she felt she had to try to get him to keep focused on who was holding Jack prisoner. It was a difficult task. She wished that Hatter was still there, because he would know better how to manoeuvre the conversation.

Just thinking about Hatter had her worrying for his safety. What if he was caught by Eagle, or the Red Knights? What would they do to him if they caught him? Alice was suddenly very unhappy that she'd let him go by himself. At least when they were together she knew what was happening. She felt her stomach flip-flop at the idea of Hatter coming to any harm. And the worst part was that it would be her fault. It certainly wasn't Hatter's idea to come back to Wonderland to help Jack; he had only come back because she had agreed to help.

"So, who might want to get their hands on the Stone of Wonderland in its entirety?" she asked after Charlie had finished speaking about mock turtles or other such nonsense, trying to take her mind off of Hatter. Not an easy feat.

"Oh, everyone and anyone," Charlie responded, waving the question off.

"To restart the Looking Glass? Really?" Alice asked, re-imagining Suits bringing Oysters through the Looking Glass in droves and draining them of their emotions.

"Heavens, no!" Charlie exclaimed. "The Stone does much more than work the Looking Glass."

"Really?" she asked, interested. "What else does it do?"

"Well, of course it's mostly useless when it's in pieces, except for one- or two-person trips through the Looking Glass, and a few other trifles," Charlie explained. "But when it's assembled, the holder of the Stone is considered the most powerful, influential person in all of Wonderland. Traditionally, whoever holds the Stone is King or Queen. The Stone itself is very powerful, made of an extremely rare and magical element. It contains enough energy to power all the cities in Wonderland for over a hundred years. Which is how the Royals got the idea for it to power the Looking Glass in the first place."

"So it's an energy source," Alice mused.

"Oh, not only that, Alice my dear," Charlie interrupted. "Because of the capacity for energy it has it can be used to conjure up powerful spells, beyond what a Magician's powers may be. It can enhance and talent Wonderlandians have – for instance, Hatter's right-hand. It doesn't just work on those of us from Wonderland, either. It can help augment some normal Oyster talents and so on, and Oysters can acquire some very Wonderlandesque powers."

"Like what?" Alice asked, thinking back to her former visit to Wonderland. She had carried the Stone with her for most of the time she spent there, except for when she'd hidden it. Had the Stone aided her in any way? She rather hoped not, she wanted to be able to say that she had accomplished all that she had because of her own power and will. Not because of some Stone. "And if it can do all of that, why was it only being used to power the Looking Glass?" she asked.

"Probably because the Queen didn't know. Most Wonderlandians don't know. A well-kept secret that the Red King protected." Charlie said proudly. "Oh, and one more thing. The Stone can be used to control any and all Bandersnatches you may come across."

"What in the heck is a Bandersnatch?" Alice asked, fearing the answer slightly. Anything with a name like Bandersnatch was bound to be decidedly unfriendly.

"The Bandersnatch is a very powerful creature. More powerful and exceedingly more dangerous than any Jabberwock you'll ever meet!" Charlie exclaimed. "A huge, muscled cat-like creature, with a long tail for balance and an extendable neck. It prefers meat, and lives mostly in jungles and dense forests. There may, in fact, be one in this forest, though I, lucky soul that I am, have never set eyes on one. It's very sleek, very fast, a beautiful creature. It is covered in soft fur that shimmers from black to white, depending on its mood in a display that captivates and enraptures. But dangerous! Oh, very few have ever looked upon it and survived, for its display is a predatory response, to lull its prey into a false sense of safety and security." Charlie suddenly stopped, and looked at her curiously. "Why are we talking about the Bandersnatch?" he asked.

"We were talking about why someone would want the Stone of Wonderland Charlie. You were going to tell me who might know of all the powers of the Stone and therefore want it put back together again," Alice said, trying to coach him into the direction she wanted.

"Ah, yes, well, really anybody in Wonderland would want the Stone. But all of its powers are a well kept secret, you see," Charlie said, and Alice tried not to sigh.

"Yes, Charlie, you've told me that. But who knows about the true potential of the Stone?" she tried again.

"Only a handful of people are likely to know," Charlie answered, thoughtful. "Why?"

"Because...someone has kidnapped Jack, and is demanding I bring him the final piece of the Stone," Alice answered slowly, for about the fourth time.

"What?" Charlie demanded. "This is a very large problem! Why didn't you tell me about it sooner?"

"I'm sorry Charlie," Alice apologized, "can you help me?"

"Why, of course I can! I'm a knight! Obviously. Now, what do you know about this person who's going around kidnapping royalty?" he asked, sitting up straight and proud.

"We know his followers call him the Master, and he left a ransom note, with this sitting on top of it," Alice explained (again) and handed the small carving to Charlie. He inspected it excitedly, taking in all the minute details. "Well, I never!" he exclaimed suddenly. "I know exactly who carved this figure!"

"Who?" Alice asked, without much hope of Charlie actually remembering long enough to tell her.

"A fellow named Haigha. Used to be a messenger for the Queen, but, much like she did with many in her service, she had him beheaded. Curious thing."

"Why was it curious?" she asked, not sure whether Charlie was to be believed.

"Well, on account of when they beheaded him, they found it was someone else's head! Of course, since there was a head chopped off, the Queen didn't much care, one way or other, and they never found him again. Said to be related to Mad March in some way, though not quite sure how. Brothers, most like." Charlie scratched under his chin thoughtfully. "Haigha was a master craftsman, in just about every medium: wood, metal, plastic, paint, even skin and organs." Alice screwed her face up at the thought of it, but decided against questioning about how one would go about creating something out of skin or organs. She wondered if Hatter would know who this Haigha was.

"So, would this Haigha be likely to kidnap Jack and demand the pieces of the Stone be brought to him?" Alice ventured to ask.

"Oh, most certainly he would. And he could! Very bright, very crafty," Charlie replied, tapping his forehead.

"Hmm..." Alice chewed on her lower lip as she thought about what Charlie had told her. She felt like he was lucid enough at the moment that his information was accurate. She wondered how they could use this information to benefit them. "Where might this Haigha be hiding away?" she asked.

"Anywhere," Charlie answered unhelpfully. "Just like anyone else who may or may not be in hiding. Wonderland is filled with little hiding places for all manner of folk. I could, however, perform a little soothsaying, perhaps send up an enquiry into the ether and see what I can see. Yes, I think I'll do that." With that, Charlie stood and trundled off to his hammock. He grabbed a cloth bag and opened it, and took out a few items that Alice could not identify, nor did she think she wanted to. She watched Charlie, somewhat intrigued. She didn't give much credit to this kind of thing, however she still remembered how Charlie had found his way into her "interrogation" with Doctor Dee and Dum, and she had no idea how he had done so. So she hoped.

"Oh, I pray to the god Seraphim for the very worthy Just Alice and I do humbly ask that you, who hold power, do direct me to the hiding place of the nefarious Haigha," and here Charlie started muttering something, and it was all so jumbled Alice couldn't make any of it out, even though she tried.

After a few moments Charlie froze in place and cried out, "Aha!" and Alice perked up.

"What is it Charlie?" she asked.

"You are NOT the Alice of Legend," Charlie stated accusingly, pointing a finger at her, and she sighed.

"No, Charlie, I'm just Alice," she explained slowly.

"There are remarkable similarities, of course," Charlie went on, and Alice felt despair curl in the pit of her stomach. "Both of you, Just Alice and The Alice, have taken on the Queen and brought down the whole house of cards, have met with Caterpillar, have faced off against the Jabberwocky, and, of course, made the acquaintance of one David Hatter. One thing which neither of you has accomplished however, is to come up against, and control, a Bandersnatch."

"No Charlie, I haven't ever seen a Bandersnatch," Alice explained, exasperated.

"But you must!" Charlie stated solemnly. "It is how you shall defeat the one known as Haigha. Using the power of the Stone of Wonderland, you, Just Alice, must control the Bandersnatch, and thus become the most powerful one in Wonderland."

Alice opened her mouth, shut it, opened it again. She had no idea where Charlie was getting this from. She was sure it was crazy and dangerous, and she had no desire to go chasing after some creature that would probably kill her, nor did she want to become the most powerful person in Wonderland. But at the same time...if she could control this creature, this Bandersnatch, she could save Jack and the rest of Wonderland from some crazy person.

"Where might I find the Bandersnatch?" Alice asked slowly and carefully, both hoping for and dreading the answer.

Charlie closed his eyes, rubbed his temples and murmured something or other. His eyes popped open. "In this very Forest of Wabe there are two. A mated pair. The male lies in that direction," Charlie said, pointing in the forest behind Alice, "and the female hunts...that way," Charlie pointed to the east. "They are to be found deep in the Forest, where the sunlight barely touches the ground, and the trees are densest. I would suggest going after the female, as they are generally smaller and of slightly better temperament than males, although all Bandersnatches tend to be frumious."

Alice suddenly had a thought. "Wouldn't I need the whole Stone in order to control one of these things?" she asked.

"Oh, undoubtedly so," Charlie replied. "To go chasing after the Bandersnatch with anything less than the entire Stone would be akin to committing suicide."

Alice's heart sunk. How was she going to get the other pieces of the Stone from Haigha? It was like a catch-22; she needed the Bandersnatch to defeat Haigha, but she needed the Stone, which Haigha had the majority of, to control the Bandersnatch. "Let's wait until Hatter comes back," she said aloud to Charlie, "maybe he'll have some news for us about this whole situation after seeing his contact." She hoped he would be back soon.

The thought of his return had her heart doing little palpitations of excitement. The fact that Hatter could do that to her infuriated her a bit because she liked to think of herself as a strong woman, who really didn't need a man to complete her. But it was exciting too, because she hadn't really ever felt that way about anyone else (with maybe the exception of this one boyfriend she'd had), or at least not as strongly. But Hatter was special. He just had a way about him. Whenever she thought about him she had to smile. She knew he would do anything to keep her safe, and she felt much the same way.

Which was why she really didn't want him coming with her to meet Eagle. The note had specifically told her to come alone; and failure to cooperate would result in dire consequences. The mere thought of her actions resulting in any danger or pain to Hatter made her ache. But trying to persuade him to stay behind was going to be tough. It turned out to be a lot tougher than she'd imagined.

Hatter was gone and back in plenty of time with the copy of the Stone. He made sure his guy (who just so happened to specialize in forgeries) worked as quickly as he could, and didn't tell him what it was or why he needed it so fast. He knew he was on a short time-line. Also, he was afraid to leave Alice alone with Charlie in his fragile mental state. Alice always seemed to attract trouble, and he could hardly keep his mind off of her while he was away.

He came back very pleased with himself for getting the copy as quickly as he could. When he walked back into camp he scanned the area to make sure Alice was there and safe: she was. She was sitting by the fire, staring into it intently, clearly thinking about something very hard. She was worrying her lower lip with her teeth, something she only did when deep in thought. He took a fraction of a second to enjoy the sight of her, safe and sound. There was no sight of the old coot, but Hatter assumed he was out in the forest digging a pit, or had fallen asleep in his hammock.

"Hello, love," he said as he strode up to her, and she looked up at him, clearly surprised and happy to see him. She jumped up and ran her hands up and down his chest quickly, then wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace. He returned the hug gladly.

"I'm glad you're back and safe," she murmured, putting her cheek to his chest.

"And I'm glad you're here waiting for me," he replied, placing a kiss on the top of her head. She bent her head back to look up at him and he couldn't help but place a kiss on her mouth.

"Do you have it?" she asked after the brief, but passionate, kiss.

"Of course I have it," he said, presenting it with a flourish. He had had them both set in small lockets on chains to be put around Alice's neck. He took them both out to show her how similar they were. "Can you tell which is which?" he asked, to which she shook her head after closely inspecting them.

"So where are we going to hide the real one?" Hatter asked.

"I thought here was as good a place as any, since Charlie's got it booby-trapped and everything," Alice said, taking them both and putting the fake one around her neck. The chain was long enough so that the locket was nestled between her breasts and fell under her shirt. They soon agreed on a hiding place and hid the stone there.

Hatter could tell that she was thinking about something, she seemed almost distracted, and kept fingering the locket around her neck and looking to where they had hidden the other one. He waited patiently, hoping that she would come out and tell him what she was thinking about and that he wouldn't have to ask about it. She did.

He was extremely surprised to hear the name Haigha; he had known the man years ago. And it didn't surprise him in the least that it would be Haigha behind it all, from what he remembered of him, he'd been a bit cruel, and hungry for power. When Alice asked him about a Bandersnatch, he'd been confused about why, until she'd explained about the many powers of the Stone, and how Charlie had foreseen that she would only defeat Haigha by controlling one. He thought it was an extremely bad idea, and then she suggested they try to control one with the piece of the Stone that they had.

"Alice, what sort of crazy idea is that?" he exclaimed, a mental image of Alice going up against a Bandersnatch with nought but a piece of the Stone to protect her causing gooseflesh to run up his arms. "A Bandersnatch is extremely dangerous, and even if we had the complete Stone I still wouldn't go up to one and try to control it. And you're not either." It was the wrong thing to say to her, because her eyes narrowed at him and she took a step back from him, her hands on her hips in defiance. So he backed up hurriedly. "At least wait until we go meet this Eagle bloke at sunset to see what we're to do with the fake piece, yeah? We may be able to get away with swappin' it for Jack's safety. If that doesn't work, then we can think about tryin' this business with the Bandersnatch. Yeah?" he asked, hoping that Alice would see reason and agree with him. "But what makes you believe it's true? Because Charlie told you?"

"I just know," Alice replied.

"But how?" he asked, getting irritated.

"I don't know!" she exclaimed. "There's just something about what he told me that seems...right. And he seemed very sure when he told me."

"He seemed sure? Are you positive he was lucid?"

"Yes...maybe...no...not entirely," Alice replied, ducking her head, evidently embarrassed because she wasn't one hundred percent sure. "In the time you were gone Charlie went from completely lucid to utterly mad at least a dozen times, maybe more, because it's not always a clear-cut thing; it's not always easy to tell when he's sane or not. But it's our best bet at saving Jack and defeating this Haigha." She looked up at the sky suddenly. "How long 'til sunset?" she asked, changing the subject.

Hatter eyed her suspiciously, knowing she was changing the subject for a reason, but not quite sure of what it was. "A couple, maybe three hours. Why?" he asked.

"How long to walk there?" Alice asked another question.

"An hour and a half, maybe two. But don't worry, we'll fly over on the Flamingo."

She shuddered delicately. "I hate that thing, and I don't want to drive it."

"No problem," Hatter replied, "I'll drive." She bit her lip at his words, making him wonder. A thought dawned on him. "You weren't thinkin' you'd go by yourself, were you?" he asked, sure that she had, in fact, been thinking exactly that. Sometimes Alice got the strangest ideas in her head.

"Hatter, the note did say to come alone...and we don't know what Haigha will do if we don't follow his instructions. Please be reasonable."

"Reasonable?" Hatter exclaimed, throwing his hands up into the air. "You must be takin' lessons from Charlie if you think it's reasonable to follow exactly what they say in ransom notes! It's a sure-fire way to get yourself killed, or worse! No, absolutely not! You're not going alone."

Alice sighed and looked up at him. "I was really afraid you'd say that." She focused her gaze somewhere behind him and nodded, but before Hatter could turn around he felt something hit him on the head, hard. He saw Alice flinch, mouth the words 'I'm sorry', and then he was falling, his world going black.


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: I apologize for the terribly long delay, again. Major writer's block, plus I've been busy busy busy, which is no excuse I know. But hopefully now I have the ball rolling, so a new chapter should be up soon. I hope.

Chapter Thirteen: A Plan Gone Wrong

When Hatter woke up, it was with a pounding headache, and he was soaked. "What the bloody hell?" he exclaimed, sitting upright to see that Charlie had dumped a bucket of water on his head. He quickly looked to the sky, to see where the sun was at. It was nearly sun-set. He jumped to his feet. "Charlie! Where's Alice? Please Charlie; please tell me that you didn't let her go off to meet Eagle on her own?" He voiced the question, even though he knew the answer already. One look at Charlie told him that he had, indeed done just that. He jumped to his feet and grabbed the old man by his collar and shook him, completely panicked.

"Why, Charlie? Why would you let her go into a dangerous situation all on her own? I thought you were supposed to be a knight! Aren't you supposed to protect her?" Hatter felt sick, positively sick to his stomach, at the thought of Alice going to meet Eagle on her own. Images of her captured and tortured danced through his head.

Charlie finally pushed at him and Hatter let him go, having almost forgotten that he was still shaking him. "I am the humble protector and servant of Just Alice, and Just Alice bid me to knock you unconscious, and so I did. However, Just Alice was mum as to the length of time which you were to be knocked unconscious." Charlie tapped the side of his nose and winked, and understanding dawned. Charlie had only done what Alice had told him to do, as he believed his duty was as a knight, but he knew that she would need help.

"How much of a head start does she have?" Hatter asked, striding towards the Flamingo. "Oh, it doesn't matter. Charlie, I have to go. Now." And he jumped onto the Flamingo and started it. He willed it to go as fast as it could fly.

Alice loped through the forest determinedly, alone. She wished that Hatter had just agreed to stay behind, and that she hadn't had to have Charlie hit him on the head. Or that Charlie had hit him so hard. But the note was clear, and she wasn't going to be responsible for putting anyone in more danger. Not Jack, and especially not Hatter.

The trip through the forest took less time that she had thought it would, and she got to the meeting place in plenty of time. The tum-tum tree was a gnarly tree that stood maybe fifteen feet high, with twisted branches and strange-looking cork-screw leaves that were a dark red in colour. The bark was a brownish-grey, and covered in whorls. It stood on a small knoll, and the castle was to the west of it. On the north and south to the tree was flat, manicured lawns that stretched out quite far. Alice was hiding immediately east to the tree in a small grove of trees.

She walked around the area slowly and quietly, searching to see if there was anyone hiding, but she couldn't find anyone. She cast her eyes to the sunset; it was almost time for her to meet Eagle. So she leaned against the tum-tum tree, arms crossed, and waited patiently. It wasn't long before she saw a lone figure off in the distance, walking slowly towards her. It was Eagle. He walked slowly and purposefully, as if he had all the time in the world, and not a care in it, either.

_Fine_, she thought to herself, _if he wants to play it like that, I can play._ So she continued to lean against the tree, took a breath and tried to smooth her face of any tell-tale lines. She could be cool and collected if that's what she needed to be.

"I see you were brave and stupid enough to actually show up," Eagle spoke as he reached her, sounding very bored. He came right up and leaned against the tree next to her. Alice fought not to flinch away from him. He really gave her the creeps.

"Of course I showed up," Alice replied trying to keep her voice level, "I'm not a coward, nor am I stupid, and I would advise you to remember that."

"Ah, the kitten has teeth and can hiss with the best of them," Eagle said, sounding quite gleeful.

"I also have claws, and I know how to use them, which you well know," Alice replied, gritting her teeth at the 'kitten' sobriquet. She pushed away from the tree and faced Eagle. "Where's Jack?" she asked, tired of the thinly-veiled threats.

"He's a bit tied up at the moment," Eagle chuckled, his laugh cruel, making Alice's eye twitch.

"This only works if everyone gets what they want," she said. "And I want Jack."

"Are you quite sure?" Eagle asked, taking a thin blade out from his jacket, making her tense, and picked at his teeth with it. "He's not in perfect condition anymore. I'm afraid he may be a bit...broken."

"He'd better not be," Alice said, hating that her voice sounded shrill. "Let me see him."

"Oh, very well," Eagle said, he reached into his jacket and pulled out a small globe. He tossed it to Alice carelessly. Confused, Alice looked into it, and then she gasped in horror at what she saw.

It was Jack, sitting chained to a wall with his hands above his head. His clothes lay in tatters all around him. His skin was raw and red and bloody from who knew what, and his face was starting to turn black and blue. His lips were split open and his hair, once startlingly blond, was now crusted red with blood. One eye was swelled almost completely shut.

"What have you done to him?" Alice asked, outraged, looking up at Eagle, who was still leaning carelessly against the tree.

"Me?" Eagle asked, sounding almost offended. "I haven't laid a hand on his poor head. All of that was the very fine handiwork of doctors Dee and Dum. Two gentlemen I believe you and your Hatter have had the pleasure of already meeting. Now," he said, taking a step forward, "where is the final piece of the Stone?"

Alice took a step back when he stepped forward, very aware of the knife he still held in his hand. "Don't think I'm just going to hand you the piece when Jack is still in chains and being tortured. I'll give the piece only to your Master, and only when I get Jack and the Duchess delivered to me, personally. Understand?"

"My my, but you are bossy, aren't you?" Eagle said with a small laugh. "What makes you think that my Master will be so quick to submit to your demands?"

"Because I have what he needs," Alice replied. She fought to keep her face calm. "If he wants what I have, he has to play by my rules."

"Actually, I don't think so kitten." Eagle said with glee. "My Master has orchestrated all of this, and he plays by no one else's rules but his own. So I rather think instead of kow-towing to you and your puny demands, I'll take you prisoner and bring you to him. I'm sure that the doctors would just love to see you again. And then you'll give up the Stone if you have it on you, and if you don't, you'll soon give us its location. And, if there's anything left, then I get to keep you." His eyes raked up and down her body in a very suggestive way, making Alice feel sick.

"Do not touch me," Alice said, steel in her voice. "Or you'll get to experience this kitten's teeth and claws first-hand."

"And what makes you think that isn't precisely what I'd like?" Eagle asked her, stepping forward again and brandishing the knife dangerously. "Do you really think you can win this? Or hope to get away?" he laughed. "Look around you, kitten, you're surrounded." Alice took a quick look back to see that she was, indeed, surrounded by red knights. They must have been sneaking up on her while Eagle kept her talking, and unaware of what was going on around her. She cursed inwardly at her own stupidity.

Then, she became aware of a loud buzzing sound, coming from slightly above and behind them. It was a Flamingo, and Hatter was on it. And it was heading right towards the group of red knights that she was surrounded by. At the very last second, Hatter jumped off of it, ducking and rolling when he hit the ground, and it flew into the red knights, scattering them. She saw Hatter jump up and attack the knights in a crazed frenzy, and then she heard Eagle move behind her. She whirled back around, just in time to see him charge her, knife poised to stab at her. She dodged him, ducked under his arm and hit his wrist as hard as she could, which knocked the weapon out if his grasp.

He grabbed her by the shoulders, and she grabbed his, and they grappled, each trying to get the best of the other. She finally threw him off, and reached for the knife, but he was quick and he slammed into her, knocking her down and the air out of her body. He was on top of her then, straddling her with a sick smile on his face.

"You know what I'm gonna love about having you?" he asked her, grabbing at her hands with one hand and slapping her across the face with the other, making her see stars momentarily. "You oysters are just delicious, once you've been broken and cracked open."

Alice saw, out of the corner of her eye, Hatter catch sight of her underneath Eagle. He roared when he saw Eagle hit her again, knocked out the last red knight standing, and came barrelling towards them. Eagle had no idea it was coming, and suddenly, Eagle was off her and wheezing on the ground. He didn't even have time to catch his breath, because Hatter was on top of him then, and pummelling him. He grabbed him by the collar with his left hand, and he just let his right fist fly. After a few punches, Eagle's face was streaming with blood, and Hatter showed no signs of stopping his assault.

"Hatter!" Alice grabbed Hatter's right arm as it was drawn back for another punch. "You're going to kill him."

"Yeah, so?" he asked her, not taking his gaze off of Eagle.

"So, we need him. Alive. He can't tell us anything if he's dead."

Eagle laughed from underneath Hatter. His laugh turned into a cough and he spit blood. "You think I'm going to tell you anything, just because your boy here bloodies me up a bit?" He laughed again.

"Looks like he's not gonna tell us anything," Hatter replied, still glaring down at Eagle. His eyes were cold and his face was hard; there was death in his stare.

"Hatter, you're not going to kill this man," Alice said, grabbing Hatter's chin and turned it forcibly towards her, until he was looking at her. Once their gazes met, Hatter's eyes softened and his face lost the hard mask.

Eagle laughed again. He kicked out hard, knocking Hatter off him and quickly stood up. "Well, isn't that just the sweetest thing? Kitten, I had no idea you had such powerful womanly wiles."

Hatter tensed beside Alice, "Do. Not. Call. Her. Kitten."

Eagle smiled, and blood came bubbling out. He spit. "Pretty soon, I'll be able to call her whatever I please. Knights!" he called out, and suddenly more red knights jumped out from somewhere, and they grabbed Hatter and Alice by the arms. They separated them and Eagle, still grinning, stepped closer to Alice. "Now then, _kitten_, be a good little pet and give me the last piece of the Stone."

"Not a chance," Alice retorted, struggling against the hands that held her.

"Very well then," he sighed. "I suppose I'll just have to kill him then," he said, taking a step towards Hatter.

"No!" Alice screamed out. "I'll give it to you!"

"No, Alice! Don't give him anything!" Hatter yelled, struggling against his own captors. One of them hit him in the stomach, hard, and he bent double, gasping for breath. Tears leaked out of Alice's eyes.

"I'll give it to you, just leave him alone," she begged.

"Now, that's much better," Eagle said with a smirk, coming back over to her. "Where did kitten hide the pretty piece of Stone?"

"Promise you'll let him go," Alice demanded.

"Oh, very well, kitten. Once you give me the piece of the Stone, I'll let your Hatter free." Eagle reached out and patted the top of her head. "Now, tell us where it is."

"It's on my necklace," Alice said, twisting her head to try to get away. Eagle leered at her again and slowly reached down her blouse, until his fingers touched the fake Stone piece. Alice's skin crawled at his touch, and she twisted and struggled to get free. She could see Hatter, standing tall again and struggling, furious, against the knights who held him. Finally, Eagle slowly withdrew the piece. He tugged on the chain, and Alice gasped when it broke. He turned away, carefully examining it. "Now let me and Hatter go." She was surprised when, suddenly, Eagle whirled back and struck her across the face again. The blow knocked her head sideways and she couldn't help the tiny cry of pain that escaped her.

"Don't you bloody touch her again!" Hatter bellowed angrily, "or I swear by all that I am, I'll kill you with by bare hands."

Eagle completely ignored Hatter's outburst, acted as if it hadn't even happened. He just stared angrily at Alice. "This," he said, waving the necklace in her face, "is a fake." Alice gaped at him in surprise. "Oh, you didn't think I'd be able to tell, did you, kitten? Well, it just so happens that I, myself, am a bit of an expert on forged materials and this is most certainly a fake." He sighed. "Now I'm most definitely going to kill Hatter, and it's going to slow and painful, and it's going to happen right in front of your face."

"No!" Alice screamed out again, struggling anew against the men who held her. "Don't, please don't! Please, please, please, don't!"

But Eagle ignored her and ordered the knights to tie Hatter to the tum-tum tree. Which they did, but not without some resistance. Hatter, of course, kicked and struggled, got an arm free and threw a couple of punches with it, but it was his left arm, and so it didn't have that touch of Wonderland magic on it, so it didn't do much damage. One of them got hold of it again, and they soon had Hatter lashed against the tree, with a red knight at each side, each holding very sharp, very wicked looking knives.

All the while Alice pled and begged with Eagle to stop, tears openly streaming down her face. "Just let him go, please! I'll give you the real piece! Please, just let him go."

"Now we're getting somewhere," Eagle said, turning back to Alice. "Now, kitten, be a good girl and give me the real piece." He took out a handkerchief and dabbed at Alice's eyes with it.

"I-I don't have it," she stammered, "we hid it, in the forest." She gulped. "Hatter knows where it is, if you let him go he'll get it for you."

Eagle chuckled, "That's a nice try, kitten, but how would I know he'd go and come right back?"

Alice took a deep breath, "You can keep me here, for...collateral," she said.

"No! Alice! Eagle, you're bloody well not keepin' her for collateral!" Hatter burst out.

"I'm afraid your Hatter is right, Alice my dear. You see, I can't trust Hatter to do as he's told, even with you here as collateral. That's because he knows people here; and there are many Wonderlandians owe him favours. So, no, I can't send him." He gave Alice a calculating look, "I can, however, send you to get the piece of the Stone, and keep your Hatter as collateral instead. Because I think you will do what you're told in this instance, because I think you know that if you don't, I will kill your Hatter." He grabbed Alice by the chin and forced her to look at him. "Now, kitten, I'm going to let you go and get the piece of the Stone, and then I want you to come," he snapped his fingers and a red knight stepped forward and handed him a slip of paper, "here. This will give you directions from here to where we're keeping Jack and the Duchess. And it's where we're taking your Hatter. So, you are going to go and get the last piece of the Stone. And you are going to bring it to this location. And you will do it quickly, you understand?"

Alice nodded her head. Eagle snapped his fingers again and the red knights who had a hold of her let her go and backed away quickly. The knights who stood next to Hatter stepped closer to him and brandished their knives menacingly. Eagle handed the slip of paper to Alice, and she took it carefully, and put it in her back pocket.

"I do this, and you're going to let them go," Alice told him, "that is not a request."

One side of Eagle's smile rose, "Of course my dear. Once you bring me the last piece, I will personally see to it that Hatter, Duchess and Jack are set free. That is, if they are still alive then."

"They had better still be alive then, or I will personally see to it that you suffer for it," Alice took a step forward, so she was toe-to-toe with Eagle, and she stared him down. Finally he nodded, and she stepped back, satisfied. "I need to go deep into the forest to get the piece of the Stone, and Hatter crashed our source of transportation," she said. "I need a Flamingo."

Eagle's eyebrows rose, apparently he was surprised at her request. "You want me to give you a Flamingo? A bold request."

"You want the Stone piece as quickly as possible, right? Well then, I need to be able to travel quickly." Alice replied.

Eagle chuckled. "Oh, I quite like you, kitten. Very well, you may have a Flamingo. It just so happens that we have one close by." He pointed behind her. "You'll find one in that small grove of trees." Alice nodded and started walking backwards slowly. Once she was far enough away she turned to lope away. "Oh, and kitten?" she heard Eagle call, and she stopped and half-turned. "Don't think I don't know you're trying to plan something in that head of yours. But don't try to cross me, you're already out your two strikes. Cross me again, and I swear I will kill your Hatter. Understand?" Alice just nodded, turned and loped into the trees.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen: And Shun the Frumious Bandersnatch

Alice kept her cool until she was in the air on the Flamingo, far from Eagle and his red knights, where she completely broke down in tears. She cried because she hadn't been able to best Eagle, in fact it had been stupid of her to try and face Eagle on her own, and now her stupidity was costing Hatter. She shuddered to think of the cruel and horrible things Eagle could be doing to Hatter now that he was a prisoner. She remembered all too well how Jack had looked in the crystal-ball, and now in her mind's eye Jack's injuries superimposed onto Hatter's features. The blowing wind dried her tears in streaks across her cheeks and she wiped them away resolutely. She sniffed in and took a couple of deep breaths, although it was hard to breathe easily when the Flamingo was going so fast.

_Get a grip Alice_, she told herself, _you're just going to have to deal with the consequences of your actions, and trade the last piece of the Stone for Hatter, Jack and Duchess._ She did, of course, realize that Eagle would say that her demands were too high, and would need something else to pay for their freedom. And she knew, without a doubt, that Eagle would ask her to trade herself for their liberation. And she also knew that if it meant freeing Hatter, she would do it.

She knew this with such clarity that it surprised her. She knew that she would gladly trade her life for his, because she loved him. Her fear and commitment-phobia from before was utter nonsense, and it made her want to weep again that she hadn't immediately shaken Hatter awake as soon as he'd said 'I love you' to her and said it back. Her fears had been unfounded, and it had been ridiculous of her to be afraid that Hatter would ever hurt her. She cursed at herself for not figuring it out sooner.

It took less time than she thought to Charlie, and soon she was back on the ground. As soon as her feet hit the ground her legs went out from underneath her, and she fell to the ground, still mired in her thoughts of Hatter and how stupid she'd been. Charlie, evidently lucid for now, jumped up from his hammock and came straight over to her.

"Alice, what's the matter?" he asked her, kneeling down next to her and enfolding her in his arms. Alice welcomed the embrace.

"Eagle captured Hatter, and will only let him and the others go if I bring him the last piece of the Stone...and if," she swallowed past the lump in her throat, "if I give myself to him."

Charlie spluttered, "Why, I ought to knock his head clean from his shoulders for even making such a demand! And I will, don't you worry, Just Alice, I'll soon set everything right. You just leave it to old Sir Charles James Malvoy the Third." He rubbed her arms comfortingly.

She sighed, "No Charlie, I've got to fix this mess I've made." She stood up, brushing dirt and debris off her jeans. Then she walked over to where she had hidden the real Stone piece. As she placed the necklace around her neck she suddenly remembered what Charlie had said earlier about the Bandersnatch, and a thought struck her. It quickly formed itself into a plan, and she had made up her mind. She was going to save Jack, Duchess, and especially Hatter; and she wasn't going to have to give herself up to do it.

"Charlie," she said, turning to him and tucking the Stone piece under her blouse, "what you said before, about the Stone controlling Bandersnatches, was that true?"

"Of course it's true!" Charlie replied indignantly, "Why else would I tell you such a thing?"

"Good. Can you still find them?" she asked.

"Without a doubt," he replied proudly.

Alice smiled, masking her terror of what she was about to do. "Point me in the direction of the male," she said, putting as much confidence and authority in her voice as she could muster. "I'm going after him."

Charlie, of course, jumped at the opportunity to showcase his skills communicating with the spirits and soon he was chanting and mumbling. As he spoke and muttered to himself Alice paced back and forth, cursing the time it was taking. Plus, she was terrified of what she was about to do. She believed what Charlie had told her before about Bandersnatches; how powerful and dreadful they were.

Soon though, Charlie figured out where the Bandersnatch was.

"How long will it take me to get there?" she asked him, hopping back on the Flamingo, ready to get going.

"Wait a moment!" Charlie stopped her before she could take off, grabbing the neck of the Flamingo. "I'm going with you, obviously."

Alice sighed, and gently pried his hands away. "No, Charlie, you have to stay here." Before he could protest, she carried on. "I need you to stay here, because...I don't know if this is going to work, and if it doesn't...I need you to go and save Hatter." She hated herself for lying to him, because obviously the old man had no chance against Haigha, Eagle, or the red knights, but what she was doing was a fool's mission, and she wasn't going to endanger anyone else. "Can you promise me you'll do that, if I don't come back?"

After a moment, Charlie nodded. "Good. Now, how long will it take me to get there?" she asked again.

"Not long at all," Charlie replied. "About a quarter of an hour on the Flamingo, if you travel as fast as you can. Just head south until you sense danger and feel fear turn your insides to jelly, and you'll know you're close. Then, you'll have to face it." Charlie searched her features carefully before her spoke again, "Just Alice, you are quite easily the bravest person I have ever known, and it was a pleasure, and an honour to serve and protect you. I'm telling you this not because I believe you shall perish, but because I know you will succeed in your quest to find and control the Bandersnatch." He finally stepped back from the Flamingo and saluted her with his sword. "Fly straight and true." Alice wiped away a tear at his words, then started the Flamingo and flew south.

They had thrown a cloth bag over his head so he couldn't see where they were taking him, and they tied his hands in front of him. This would have been to his advantage, except that Eagle had also ordered them to tie a rope around each ankle, and another rope was tied to the one that bound his wrists and then the three were tied together. Hatter could feel the weight of the knot in front of his waist, the rope they used was heavy and cumbersome.

One of them grabbed him by the shoulders and spun him around and around in circles to mess with his sense of direction, and he nearly tripped over his own feet because of how they had them tied. Then, someone, Eagle he figured, tied yet another rope around his neck and led him by it. While they walked he had a red knight on either side of him, behind him, and Eagle leading him a few feet in front. He knew it was Eagle, because he kept the rope pulled tight, and would yank on it every once in a while so Hatter was forced to keep to a quick pace, or get strangled. It was hard going, what with being trussed up the way he was, and he tripped and fell multiple times. Not that him falling made Eagle stop, or even slow down, he would just drag him until Hatter either got himself up, or one of the knights beside him hauled him back to his feet; each time he tripped and fell he thought to himself, _This is it, he's gonna just drag me along til I suffocate_. But someone always picked him up and set him on his feet.

All he could think about the entire time was Alice. He was terrified for her, worried even more about her than his own well-being. He knew that she would do what Eagle told her to do, because they had him captured, as well as Jack and Duchess. He also knew she would probably try something incredibly brave and stupid, and that scared him even more. But what scared him the most, the thing that terrified him all the way to his bones; was the knowledge that Eagle would demand her to trade herself for him...and he was certain she would. Because that was who she was, Alice would do the "right" thing, even if it cost her her own life. She would trade herself for the three of them, and become Eagle's personal toy.

Just the thought, the mere idea, of Eagle touching her in any way, shape or form, caused shudders to run up and down his spine, and a rage more intense than he'd ever experienced to burn deep in his belly. If he thought he'd felt anger before at the idea of Alice with Jack (or any other man, not immediately related to her), it paled vastly in comparison with the wrath he was experiencing right now. He knew, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that if he was free right now, he would tear the man limb from limb for even intimating such a thing. Hell, he already wanted to kill him for laying a hand on her before.

He wasn't sure how long they walked for; all he knew was that he was dead tired. But he knew they were there, because he heard the creak of an old door, and then he heard the slam of the doors hitting the ground. _An old cellar_, he mused, wondering just where they were. He knew they were still outside the city, because he could still hear the sounds of being out in the open, and the terrain had gotten rough and they had gone down a steady slope the longer they walked. So he knew they were going away from the majority of the populace. _Probably set up in someone's abandoned farm-house, and built a nice little lair underneath it_, thoughts whirled through his mind as he tried to figure out how long they had walked and what direction they had walked in, to try and triangulate where they might be.

His thought process was jolted when he was picked up and thrown mercilessly down a flight of stone steps and landed, hard, on his back on a stone floor. The fall knocked the breath out of him and he laid there for a moment, wheezing to force the air back into his lungs. He heard the door above him slam back shut, the slide of a plank of wood across, locking them in, and then heard another thump, likely a heavy weight placed on top just to make it extra difficult to get out.

Once he had caught his breath he reached up and pulled the bag off his head so he could finally see. Not that he could actually see much, once he did. It was quite dark; the only light that came in was filtered through the cracks of the door above. So he lay quietly and waited for his eyes to adjust to the semi-darkness.

Suddenly, he heard a noise in the darkness; the clink of chains, and Hatter sat up quickly. "Who's there?" he asked into the semi-darkness.

"God, Hatter, is that you?" a hoarse male voice drifted toward him, and it sounded weak and tired. "Damn, I had hoped they wouldn't catch you."

Hatter squinted his eyes in the low light, and got up. "Jack... is that you?"

"Yes, last time I checked it was," Jack replied with a cough. "Excuse me for not coming over to you, they've got me chained to this wall." Hatter walked towards Jack's voice until he could see him. He gasped at what he saw. Jack was standing slumped against the wall; his arms were chained up over his head. His wrists were shackled and a chain ran between them, which was attached to a hook several feet above his head. "I wasn't aware I looked that bad," he said with the attempt of a smile.

He looked like hell. His clothes were torn and bloody, hanging off him in scraps. His hair was matted in dried blood, and his face was caked in it. He had cuts and bruises all over his face, his right cheek was split wide open, and so were his lips. Hatter could see through the rips in Jack's clothing that his torso was covered in blood, bruises, and other marks.

"Bloody hell man, what have they done to ya?" Hatter finally asked, striding over to him and reaching up for the chain. He yanked it out of the wall and nearly dropped it when Jack collapsed on the ground with a cry of pain. Apparently it had been supporting his weight. He knelt down in front of him and tried to help him get into a somewhat more comfortable position, and then sat next to him.

"I wasn't sure if you would come to my aid," Jack said after a moment.

Hatter wasn't quite sure what to say, so he just shrugged. "Well, Alice was coming, so I was coming with her."

"Oh please don't tell me they have her too?" Jack asked, and he actually sounded sincere.

"No, they don't have her. Yet," Hatter replied bitterly. Then he filled Jack in on all of the details of their predicament.

"Damnation," was all Jack said after that. "I suppose that means that this madman Haigha is going to get what he wants. Unless Alice can come up with a suitable plan of action, though I fail to see what she's going to be able to do."

Hatter slumped against the wall, feeling hopeless. "I'm afraid I don't know either Jack." He sighed. "So, how long do I have until they come to do me up like they done you?" He suddenly heard the door slam open, and he squinted against the sudden bright. He looked up and saw two identical figures silhouetted against the light.

Doctors Dee and Dum stepped down the stairs, each holding a case. "Not long at all," one said, and they both smiled. The door behind them closed and suddenly they were in darkness again. A split second later and one of them lit some kind of light, and a flare lit up the room with a greenish tinge.

"Oh, look Dee, he's let our toy fall on the floor," Dum said.

"And we had it hanging up so nicely," Dee replied.

"Oh well, we'll just have to pick it back up to play with again. It's rather worn out though now, and not quite so much fun."

"But now we have a brand new one." Hatter jumped up from the floor and got into a defensive stance. "Oh, this one is walking around, can't have that."

Dum reached into his pocket and took something out; Hatter couldn't see what it was. Suddenly he flicked his hand out and threw whatever it was at Hatter. It hit him and exploded in smoke and powder, and Hatter just looked at them, mystified. Then, he felt his arms and legs get heavy and numb, and he fell to the floor. The powder must have been some kind of paralysing agent. Hatter could do nothing but curse at the two men as they chained Jack back up and then hoisted him up a few feet away from Jack and chained him to the wall.

"We've had this one before haven't we?" Dum said, looking at Hatter and cocking his head to the side.

"Indeed we have. Do you remember what we used on him last time?" Dee said, reaching into his bag and taking out a very familiar looking object. Hatter's stomach curled with dread. It was a cattle prod, just like the one they had used on him before.

"Oh, this is going to be such fun."


End file.
